SINOPAH 

THE  INDIAN  BOY 


I 
Pf 


JAMES  WILLARD  SCHULTZ 


"i  CALL  HIM  SINOPAH!" 


(p.  15) 


SINOPAH 

The  Indian  Boy 

BY 

JAMES  WILLARD  SCHULTZ 
(AP-I-KUN-I) 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 
E.  BOYD  SMITH 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON   •   NEW  YORK  •   CHICAGO  •   DALLAS 

SAN  FRANCISCO 
&be  XUbergibe  Press  Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT,  I9I3,  BY  JAMES  WILLARD  SCHULTZ 

ALL   RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THE  RIGHT  TO  REPRODUCE 
THIS  BOOK  OR  PARTS  THEREOF  IN  ANY  FORM 


tEfjc  Ktbersibe  ftrefig 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED  IN  THE  U.S.A. 


Contents 

I.     SlNOPAH    GETS    HIS    NAME I 

II.     SlNOPAH   AND    SlNOPAH 1 7 

III.  SlNOPAH    AND    HIS    PLAYFELLOWS  ...       33 

IV.  SINOPAH'S  ESCAPE  FROM  THE  BUFFALO      .    43 
V.  THE  CLAY  TOYS 54 

VI.   THE  STORY  OF  SCARFACE 69 

VII.   THE  BUFFALO  TRAP        83 

VIII.   SPINNING  TOP 99 

IX.   SINOPAH'S  FIRST  Bow 113 

X.  TRACKING  A  MOUNTAIN  LION      .     .     .     .126 

XL     SlNOPAH  JOINS  THE  MOSQUITO  SOCIETY    .      .    14! 


Illustrations 

<;  I  CALL  HIM  SINOPAH  I "  (page  15)      .     .    Ffontispiecf 

HlS    LITTLE    BODY   ACTUALLY   FLEW    THROUGH    THE 

AIR 52 

THEN  IT  WAS  THAT  HE  SUDDENLY  TURNED      .     .    96 
IT  WAS  A  FINE  SHOT 124 

From  drawings  by  E.  Boyd  Smith 


SINOPAH 

The  Indian  Boy 

CHAPTER   I 

SINOPAH    GETS    HIS    NAME 

THIS  is  the  story  of  Sinopah,  a  Black- 
foot  Indian  boy;  he  who  afterward 
became  the  great  chief  Pitamakan, 
or,  as  we  say,  the  Running  Eagle.    I  knew 
Pitamakan  well;  also  his  white  friend  and 
partner  in  many  adventures,  Thomas  Fox. 
Both  were  my  friends;    they  talked  to  me 
much  about  their  boyhood  days,  so  you  may 
know  that  this  is  a  true  story. 

It  was  a  great  many  years  ago,  in  the  time 
of  the  buffalo,  that  Sinopah  was  born,  and 
it  was  on  a  warm,  sunny  day  in  June  that 
he  first  saw  the  light  of  the  sun,  to  which  he 
was  afterward  to  make  many  a  prayer.  The 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

great  camp  of  the  Blackfeet  was  pitched  on 
the  Two  Medicine  River,  one  of  the  pretti 
est  streams  in  all  Montana.  Only  a  few  miles 
to  the  west  of  the  camp  the  sharp  peaks  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  rose  for  thousands  of 
feet  into  the  clear  blue  air.  To  the  north,  and 
south,  and  east  the  great  plains  stretched 
away  to  the  very  edge  of  the  horizon,  and 
they  were  now  green  with  the  fresh  grasses 
of  spring.  The  mile- wide  valley  of  the  Two 
Medicine  lay  like  a  great  gash  in  the  plain, 
and  several  hundred  feet  below  it.  Along  the 
shores  of  the  stream  there  was  a  belt  of  tim 
ber  :  big  cottonwood  trees,  with  bunches  of 
willow,  service  berry,  and  rose-brush  growing 
under  them.  Elsewhere  the  wide,  level  bot 
toms  were  splotched  with  the  green  of  low 
land  grass  and  the  pale  silver-green  of  sweet 
sage.  Thousands  of  horses  grazed  on  these 
bottoms  and  out  on  the  near  plains ;  the 
Blackfeet  had  so  many  of  the  animals  that 
they  could  not  count  them  all  in  a  week's 
time.  There  were  more  than  five  hundred 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

lodges,  or  wigwams,  in  the  camp,  and  they 
were  strung  along  the  bottom,  just  outside  of 
the  timber  belt,  for  several  miles.  Each  lodge 
was  the  home  of  one  or  two  families,  the  aver 
age  being  eight  persons  to  the  lodge,  so  there 
were  about  four  thousand  people  in  this  one 
camp  of  the  three  tribes  of  the  Blackfeet 
Nation. 

Those  were  wild  days  in  which  Sinopah 
was  born.  Fort  Benton,  owned  by  the  Amer 
ican  Fur  Company,  was  the  only  white 
settlement  in  all  Montana.  The  Blackfeet 
owned  all  of  the  country  from  the  Saskatche 
wan  River,  in  Canada,  south  to  the  Yellow 
stone  River,  and  from  the  Rocky  Mountains 
eastward  for  more  than  three  hundred  miles. 
The  plains  were  covered  with  buffalo  and  an 
telope  ;  in  the  mountains  and  along  the  rivers 
were  countless  numbers  of  elk,  deer,  bighorn, 
moose,  black  and  grizzly  bears,  wolves,  and 
many  smaller  animals.  So  it  was  that  the 
Blackfeet  were  very  rich.  They  had  always 
plenty  of  meat  and  berries,  soft  robes  and 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

furs,  and  with  their  many  horses  they  roamed 
about  on  their  great  plains  and  hunted,  and 
were  happy. 

Usually  the  birth  of  a  child  in  the  great 
camp  was  hardly  mentioned.  But  on  this  June 
morning  the  news  spread  quickly  from  one  end 
to  the  other  of  it  that  in  the  lodge  of  White 
Wolf  there  was  a  baby  boy.  There  was  much 
talk  about  it  because  White  Wolf  was  a  great 
chief,  and  it  was  well  known  that  he  had  long 
wanted  a  son.  Everybody  now  said  that  the 
gods  had  been  good,  and  had  given  him  his 
wish.  All  that  day  the  medicine  men  and  war 
riors  kept  going  to  his  lodge  to  say  how  pleased 
they  were  that  this  had  come  to  him. 

The  chief's  lodge  was  a  very  large  one.  It 
was  made  of  twenty  cow  buffalo  skins  that 
had  been  tanned  into  soft  leather,  cut  to  the 
right  shape,  and  sewed  together  with  sinew 
thread.  This,  the  lodge  skin,  as  it  was  called, 
was  stretched  over  twenty-four  long,  tough, 
and  slender  pine  poles  set  in  the  shape  of  a 
cone.  The  lower  edge  or  skirt  of  the  skin  did 

4 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

not  touch  the  ground  by  a  space  of  something 
like  four  inches.  But  inside  there  was  a  lin 
ing  of  leather,  weighted  to  the  ground  by  the 
couches  and  sacks  of  household  property,  and 
extending  upward  for  five  or  six  feet.  Thus, 
between  this  lining  and  the  outer  lodge  skin 
there  was  a  space  of  the  thickness  of  the  lodge 
poles,  and  this  was  the  draught  flue.  The  cold 
air  rushed  up  through  it  and  out  of  the  open 
top  of  the  lodge,  carrying  with  it  the  smoke 
from  the  fire.  There  were  two  large  wings,  or 
"ears,"  at  the  top  of  the  skin,  held  stretched 
out  by  two  long  poles.  These  were  shifted 
one  way  or  another  to  protect  the  opening 
from  the  wind,  and  so  the  lodge  was  always 
free  from  smoke.  The  skin  was  waterproof; 
the  lining  kept  the  wind  out;  and  so,  even  in 
the  coldest  winter  weather,  a  very  small  fire 
in  the  centre  of  the  lodge  made  the  people 
very  comfortable.  At  night,  when  the  fire 
died  out,  they  lay  in  their  warm  beds  of  buf 
falo  robes  and  slept  just  as  well  as  you  do  in 
your  warm  home. 

5 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  that  Wesley  Fox, 
a  great  man  of  the  American  Fur  Company, 
and  uncle  of  Thomas  Fox,  came  to  White 
Wolfs  lodge.  A  number  of  warriors  coming 
out  of  it  greeted  him  pleasantly.  He  waited 
until  they  had  passed,  then  raised  the  curtain 
of  the  little,  oblong  doorway,  and  stepped  in 
side.  "Ok-yi!"  (Welcome)  said  White  Wolf, 
and  motioned  him  to  a  place  on  his  right, 
which  was  the  seat  for  honored  guests.  The 
chief's  face  was  all  smiles.  He  rubbed  his 
hands  together,  then  spatted  them,  and  said, 
in  his  own  language,  of  course,  "  White 
brother  mine,  this  is  the  happiest  day  of  my 
life.  I  have  a  son.  Look,  now,  what  a  fine 
one  he  is,  how  big  for  one  born  this  day  as 
the  sun  was  coming  up.  We  are  going  to 
name  him  right  away,  and  I  ask  you  to  stay 
and  take  part  in  the  naming  feast." 

Wesley  Fox  was  already  looking  at  the 
child,  or,  rather,  at  its  head,  which  was  all  of 
it  that  could  be  seen.  It  was  wrapped  around 
and  around,  arms  and  all,  in  several  bandages 

6 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

of  soft  cloth,  and  then  laced  into  a  cradle, 
the  back  of  which  was  a  piece  of  rough-hewn 
board.  The  lacings  held  the  roll  of  him  flat 
against  it :  he  could  not  move  hand  or  foot, 
or  his  head  either,  except  for  an  inch  or  two 
to  the  right  or  left.  Altogether,  in  his  odd 
wrappings  and  lacings,  he  looked  like  a  little 
mummy  from  the  tombs  of  the  Egyptian 
kings.  The  cradle  was  propped  up  at  the  foot 
of  his  mother's  couch,  so  that  he  rested  in  an 
almost  upright  position.  The  mother,  half 
sitting  up  against  a  willow  slat  back-rest, 
gazed  across  the  length  of  the  couch  at  the 
round  little  face,  and  there  was  a  world  of 
love  shining  in  her  big  dark  eyes. 

The  baby's  face,  as  well  as  its  short,  thin 
hair,  was  of  a  red  bronze  color.  It  had  a 
funny,  tender  little  mouth,  and  its  eyes  were 
very  bright.  All  at  once  it  began  to  pucker 
its  mouth  and  make  a  queer  little  cry. 

"There!  there!  mother,"  the  chief  said 
anxiously,  "  it  is  crying ;  maybe  it  is  sick. 
Oh,  what  if  it  should  get  real  sick  and  die? 

7 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Do  something  at  once  for  it,  woman.  If  you 
don't  know  what  to  do,  I  '11  get  some  wise 
old  women  to  come  in." 

"There  is  nothing  wrong  with  it.  All  ba 
bies  cry  a  little,"  said  the  mother.  And  rais 
ing  herself,  she  caught  hold  of  the  bottom 
of  the  cradle  and  drew  it  to  her.  There  was  no 
more  crying,  and  the  chief  was  happy  again. 

Presently  an  old,  old  medicine  man,  or  sun 
priest,  came  in,  followed  by  a  number  of  war 
riors  and  women,  all  of  them  relatives  of 
White  Wolf  or  of  his  wife.  They  were  made 
welcome,  and  filling  and  lighting  his  great 
stone  pipe  the  chief  passed  it  to  the  man  near 
est  him,  and  then  it  went  clear  around  the 
circle,  each  one  of  the  guests  taking  a  few 
whifFs  of  smoke. 

After  the  smoke  several  women  of  the  lodge 
passed  around  the  feast,  giving  to  each  guest 
a  wooden  dish  containing  broiled  buffalo 
tongue,  dried  camas  root,  and  fresh,  puckery 
berries  of  the  red  willow.  There  was  much 
talk  and  laughter.  The  women  passed  the 

8 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

baby  from  one  to  another,  kissing  it,  saying 
how  much  it  looked  like  its  father,  and  talk 
ing  foolish  little  words  to  it  just  as  white 
women  do  to  a  baby  of  their  kind. 

The  feast  was  soon  over.  No  one  was  really 
hungry  and  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
food  was  eaten.  The  old  medicine  man,  I-kus- 
kin-i,  or  Low  Horn,  by  name,  had  brought 
his  own  pipe,  and  now  filled  and  lighted  it 
and  passed  it  around.  He  knew  why  he  had 
been  invited  to  the  lodge,  but  for  all  that  it 
was  White  Wolfs  duty  to  tell  the  reason  for 
the  gathering  of  relatives,  and  so  the  chief 
made  a  little  speech. 

"Relatives  and  friends,"  he  said,  "soon 
after  the  sun  came  in  sight  this  morning,  he 
looked  down  and  saw  my  new-born  boy.  Be 
fore  he  goes  out  of  sight  to  his  lodge  to-night, 
I  think  it  right  that  he  should  know  the  new- 
born's  name.  So  it  is  that  I  have  asked  you 
all  to  gather  here.  I  call  upon  our  old  friend 
Low  Horn  to  say  what  the  name  shall  be, 
and  I  now  make  him  a  small  present:  Low 

9 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Horn,  in  my  band  of  horses  grazing  out  yon 
der  on  the  plain  is  a  certain  four-year-old 
black-and-white  pinto.  I  give  him  to  you. 
A  white  three-year-old,  a  roan  four-year-old 
with  a  split  ear,  and  a  gray  five-year-old,  well 
broken  and  a  swift  buffalo  runner,  I  also  give 
you.  Let  us  hear  the  name/' 

"Yes, yes!"  every  one  exclaimed;  "let  us 
hear  the  name,  O  wise  one/* 

There  followed  a  long  silence.  The  old 
medicine  man  sat  bowed  over  in  deep  thought. 
In  his  hands  was  a  small  buckskin  sack  orna 
mented  with  bands  of  colored  porcupine  quill 
embroidery.  Presently  he  laid  the  sack  on 
the  ground,  straightened  up,  and  said:  — 

"  We  all  know  that  the  naming  of  a  new 
born  boy  is  an  important  matter.  Some  names 
bring  good  luck,  some  bring  bad  luck.  I  am 
going  to  try  hard  to  give  this  little  one  a  name 
that  will  please  the  gods,  and  cause  them  to 
favor  him. 

"  Listen !  It  was  long  ago  in  my  young 
days.  One  winter  day  I  took  my  bow  and 

10 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

arrows  and  walked  up  on  the  plain  to  hunt 
buffalo.  I  saw  a  large  band  of  them  on  some 
far  hills  and  started  out  that  way  toward  them0 
The  day  was  cloudy  arid  before  I  left  camp 
people  were  saying  that  more  snow  was  about 
to  fall.  After  sighting  the  buffalo  I  hoped  that 
a  storm  would  come,  for  in  the  thick  of  it 
the  animals  would  be  easily  approached.  I 
walked  on  and  on  as  fast  as  I  could,  for  the 
herd  was  a  long  way  off.  When  I  was  out  in 
the  middle  of  the  great  plain,  Cold-Maker 
suddenly  came  out  of  the  north.  As  always, 
he  hid  himself  in  the  thick  snowfall,  which  he 
drove  in  all  directions  with  fierce  cold  winds. 
No  one  has  ever  seen  the  shape  of  him  be 
cause  of  that.  The  stinging  snow  beat  against 
my  face,  then  at  my  back,  then  swirled  around 
and  around  me.  I  could  not  see  the  distance 
of  twenty  steps  in  any  direction,  and  knew 
not  which  way  was  the  river  and  camp.  I 
was  lost  and  beginning  to  freeze.  I  prayed 
the  gods  to  have  pity ;  in  some  way  to  show 
me  the  way  to  the  river. 

ii 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"Then  out  of  the  awful  swirling  and  drift 
ing  snow  came  a  little  creature  with  head 
down  and  drooping  tail.  It  was  a  Sinopah. 
[The  "  swift "  or  "kit"  fox  of  the  North 
western  plains.] 

"  It  passed  close  to  me,  showing  no  fear, 
just  looking  up  once  at  me,  its  black  eyes 
shining  strangely,  deep  down  in  its  snow- 
caked  hair :  *  Oh,  little  brother/  I  cried, '  you 
are  going  to  the  sheltering  timber  of  the  river 
Do  not  haste  ;  guide  me  thither,  else  I  die.' 

"  Sinopah  was  almost  out  of  sight  then, 
although  so  near.  But  when  I  asked  for  his 
help,  he  stopped  and  looked  back,  as  if  wait 
ing  for  me.  I  walked  toward  him  as  fast  as  I 
could,  holding  my  robe  close  against  my  face 
so  as  to  shield  it  from  the  stinging  snow. 
Sinopah  waited  until  I  was  within  ten  steps 
of  him,  then  pushed  sidling  on  against  the 
drift  until  nearly  out  of  sight  again,  when  he 
stopped  as  before,  as  if  waiting.  And  so  we 
went  on  and  on.  Sometimes  the  wind  was  in 
my  face,  sometimes  beating  against  my  side 

12 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

or  back,  but  I  knew  that  that  was  a  trick  of 
Cold-Maker.  He  wanted  to  confuse  me ;  to 
make  me  think  that  I  was  going  now  in  one 
direction,  and  again  turning  another  way.  He 
wanted  me  to  go  around  and  around  in  a  cir 
cle  until  he  could  kill  me  with  his  freezing 
winds. 

"Through  it  all  I  had  faith.  I  believed 
that  the  gods  had  heard  my  prayers;  that 
Sinopah  had  been  sent  by  them  to  save  me. 
Sometimes,  when  it  seemed  as  if  he  certainly 
had  turned  and  was  going  straight  back  the 
way  we  had  come,  doubts  for  a  moment  filled 
my  mind,  but  I  thrust  them  out.  The  cold 
grew  more  and  more  bitter ;  the  snow  rushed 
and  whirled  into  deeper  and  deeper  drifts.  I 
became  weary ;  I  wanted  to  lie  down  and  sleep  ; 
and  at  the  last  it  was  all  I  could  do  to  strug 
gle  on.  I  could  not  have  traveled  much  far 
ther  when  suddenly  we  began  to  descend  a 
steep  hill,  and  I  knew  that  we  were  leav 
ing  the  plain  and  going  down  into  the  river 
valley.  It  was  so.  We  soon  got  to  the  bottom 

13 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

and  went  on  through  the  tall  sagebrush  of 
the  lowlands.  And  then,  seemingly  very  far 
off,  but  really  only  a  few  steps  distant,  the 
naked  branches  of  cottonwoods  appeared  in 
the  thick,  driving  snow,  and  I  could  hear  the 
wind  crying  through  them.  I  hastened  then, 
as  fast  as  I  could,  and  soon  stood  in  the  shelter 
of  the  timber  bordering  the  river.  Right  in 
front  of  me  was  a  dead,  bent  old  tree  that  I 
remembered  having  seen  before;  the  camp 
was  just  a  little  way  up  from  it.  *  Little 
brother,'  I  cried,  'you  have  saved  me/ 

"But  Sinopah  was  gone.  I  could  not  see 
him  anywhere  about.  I  went  on  and  soon 
came  to  the  camp  and  to  my  own  lodge.  I 
was  saved.  Sinopah  had  led  me  straight  home. 
There  and  then  I  made  a  vow :  ever  afterward, 
when  passing  the  dens  of  the  Sinopahs,  if  I 
had  meat  I  dropped  a  piece  of  it  for  them 
and  their  young." 

"Ah,  hah,  hai!"  all  the  guests  exclaimed. 
"  How  wonderful.  Great  medicine  was  Sino 
pah/' 


Sinopah  gets  his  Name 

"  Pass  me  the  new-born  one,"  said  Low 
Horn. 

A  woman  placed  the  laced  little  form  in 
his  hands  2-nd  he  looked  long  and  kindly  down 
at  the  round,  smooth  face.  Then,  taking  sa 
cred,  dull-red  paint  from  a  little  buckskin 
sack,  he  carefully  rubbed  it  on  the  baby's 
forehead,  nose,  cheeks,  and  chin.  Lastly  he 
held  the  child  face  upward  toward  the  sun, 
and  said :  "  O  all-powerful  Sun,  and  you, 
Nap-i  (Old  Man),  Maker-of-the- World :  be 
hold,  I  have  painted  the  new-born  one  with 
your  own  sacred  color,  and  now  I  name  him. 
I  give  him  a  name  for  his  young  days.  A 
name  to  last  until  he  becomes  a  warrior  and 
makes  a  name  for  himself.  I  call  him  Sino 
pah. 

"Have  pity  on  Sinopah,  O  you  great  ones. 
Make  him  grow  up  strong  and  brave  ;  fill  his 
heart  with  love  for  father  and  mother,  and 
kind  feeling  for  all  our  people.  Give  him  long 
life,  O  Maker-of-the- World,  and  you,  won 
derful  Maker-of-the-Days.  Have  pity  on  us 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

all,  men,  women,  and  children ;  give  us  all  long 
life.   I  have  said." 

"  Ai !  Ai !  You  gods,  have  pity  on  us,"  all 
the  guests  cried,  and  at  that  they  all  arose  and 
went  their  ways.  The  boy  was  named. 


CHAPTER   II 

SINOPAH    AND    SINOPAH 

ALL  summer  long,  and  all  through 
the  many  moons  of  winter,  the  little 
Sinopah  remained  laced  against  his 
cradle-board  the  greater  part  of  the  time.  The 
object  in  keeping  him  in  such  a  position  was 
so  to  shape  the  bones  of  his  body  that  he  would 
grow  straight.  Straight  as  an  arrow,  instead  of 
round-shouldered  and  bent,  as  so  many  white 
children  are  allowed  to  take  shape  by  careless 
or  ignorant  mothers.  The  close  confinement 
in  the  cradle  did  not  hurt  him  at  all ;  but 
sometimes  the  one  position  grew  irksome  and 
the  baby  fretted.  Then  the  mother  would 
take  him  out  of  the  cradle  and  let  him  roll 
naked  on  her  couch  until  he  tired  and  fell 
asleep,  when  back  he  would  be  put  against 
the  cradle-board. 

When  summer  came  again,  Sinopah  was 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

a  year  old,  and  from  that  moon  of  his  first 
birthday  he  spent  less  and  less  time  in  the 
cradle,  and  more  and  more  time  in  creeping 
about  on  his  mother's  couch,  or  near  her  out 
on  the  clean,  short  grass.  Then,  along  in  the 
autumn,  after  many  attempts,  he  toddled  on 
uncertain  legs  from  his  mother's  to  his  fa 
ther's  knee  as  the  two  sat  a  few  feet  apart  in 
the  lodge.  That  was  a  great  day  for  White 
Wolf.  Straightway  he  gave  a  feast  and  sum 
moned  all  the  relatives,  that  they  too  might 
see  his  young  son  walk.  Uncles  and  aunts, 
they  all  loved  the  child  and  were  proud  of 
him  ;  and  his  old  gray-headed  grandfather, 
Mik-sik-um,  or  Red  Crane,  was  his  almost 
constant  companion  as  soon  as  he  began  to 
creep. 

On  this  day  the  little  fellow  wore  for  the 
first  time  the  suit  of  war-clothes  his  mother 
had  been  long  in  making.  The  clean,  white, 
fringed  buckskin  shirt  blazed  with  bright 
embroidery  work,  of  dyed  porcupine  quills. 
The  breech-clout  of  red  cloth  was  held  in 

18 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

place  with  a  beaded  belt.  The  fringed  buck 
skin  leggings  were  painted  with  small  diag 
onal  stripes  of  yellow  and  red  ochre.  The 
dainty  little  moccasins  were  embroidered 
with  a  solid  mass  of  fine,  glittering  beads  in 
the  symbol  of  the  sun.  Very  quaint  and  brave 
he  looked  in  all  his  finery,  and  his  infant  mind 
and  eyes  were  pleased  with  it  all.  He  crowed 
and  gurgled  and  laughed,  and,  with  many  a 
fall  between,  went  from  one  to  another  of 
the  admiring  circle  of  guests. 

Once  he  fell  and  struck  his  head  against  his 
father's  tobacco-board.  All  present  there  held 
their  breath,  anxiously  watching  to  see  what 
he  would  do.  But  he  did  not  cry:  he  sat  up 
quickly,  made  a  wry  face,  rubbed  the  bruised 
spot  for  a  moment,  then  got  up  and  lurched 
on  to  his  mother's  arms. 

"Oh-ho-hai !  "  every  one  exclaimed,  clap 
ping  hand  to  mouth ;  "  he  heeds  not  pain;  he 
perseveres;  he  will  become  a  great  warrior." 

"  I  give  him  a  yellow  pinto  mare  and  a 
brown  mare/'  cried  an  uncle.  "  White  Wolf, 

19 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

come  and  get  them  out  of  my  band  to- 
morrow  and  put  them  with  your  herd." 

Then  up  spoke  one  after  another  of  the 
guests,  each  making  a  present  of  one  or  more 
animals.  In  a  few  minutes  the  little  Sinopah 
became  the  owner  of  thirty-five  good,  young 
mares:  "Oh-ho-hai!"  the  old  grandfather 
quavered,  joyfully  smiling  and  rubbing  his 
wrinkled  hands  together,  "  think  of  the  colts 
that  will  be  coming  every  spring.  Before 
ever  Sinopah  is  able  to  go  to  war,  he  will  be 
rich." 

Up  to  this  time  Sinopah  had  been  bathed 
in  tepid  water  in  the  lodge.  His  father  now 
took  him  in  hand  and  upon  arising  every 
morning  carried  him  to  the  river  for  a  quick 
dip  in  the  cold  water.  It  was  cold,  the  au 
tumn  frosts  having  already  begun,  but,  though 
the  little  fellow's  tender  flesh  shrank  from 
contact  with  it  and  he  gasped,  never  a  cry 
came  from  his  firm-set  lips.  Day  after  day 
the  weather  grew  colder.  Winter  came  and 
the  streams  and  lakes  froze  over,  but  the 

20 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

morning  bath  was  continued  just  the  same, 
holes  frequently  having  to  be  chopped  in  the 
ice  in  order  to  get  into  the  water.  And  no 
vnatter  how  cold  it  was,  Sinopah  went  naked 
in  his  father's  arms  from  the  warm  bed  out 
on  the  snapping,  groaning  river  ice,  and  into 
the  water  without  a  murmur.  Afterward, 
following  a  rub  before  the  fire,  he  felt  so 
strong  and  lively  that  he  couldn't  sit  still 
a  minute,  and  while  his  mother  cooked  the 
morning  meal,  White  Wolf  sat  on  watch  to 
keep  him  from  tumbling  into  the  fire.  The 
early  morning  bath  was  taken  by  all  the  Black- 
feet,  young  and  old,  every  day  in  the  year. 
They  believed  that  it  enabled  them  to  hunt 
on  the  plains  in  the  very  coldest  weather, 
without  freezing,  and  they  were  right.  I 
have  seen  them  cutting  up  game  with  bare 
hands  when  the  weather  was  so  cold  that  I 
did  not  dare  take  off  my  gloves  for  even  a 
moment;  and  yet  not  even  their  finger  tips 
were  nipped  by  the  cruel  frost. 

Sinopah  had  no  other  food  than  his  mo- 

21 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

ther's  milk  until  his  teeth  were  well  grownt 
After  that  time  he  lived  almost  entirely  on 
the  meat  of  buffalo  and  other  game,  with 
sometimes  a  few  berries  and  roots,  fresh  or 
dried.  Fat  buffalo  meat  was  very  nourishing. 
The  women  broiled  or  boiled  it,  and  when 
great  quantities  of  it  were  brought  in  by  the 
hunters,  they  cut  it  into  thin  sheets  and  dried 
it  in  the  sun  for  future  use.  Sometimes  they 
pounded  the  dried  meat  into  particles  as  fine 
as  meal,  and  made  pemmican  of  it.  This  was 
done  by  mixing  the  pounded  meat  with  mar 
row  grease;  that  is,  grease  taken  from  the 
bones  of  the  animals.  When  mixed,  the  stuff 
was  put  into  bags  of  freshly  killed  hide,  and 
then  the  mouths  of  the  bags  were  sewed  up. 
As  the  hide  became  dry  it  shrank  tightly 
around  the  pemmican  and  made  a  very  solid 
and  heavy  package.  One  of  these,  not  larger 
than  a  half-bushel  measure,  weighed  more 
than  a  hundred  pounds.  The  grease  pre 
served  the  meat,  and  the  hide  pretty  well 
kept  the  air  from  it.  The  mixture  was  always 

22 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

sweet  and  good  for  many  months,  and  was  so 
very  rich  that  a  half  pound  of  it  was  enough 
for  a  meal  for  a  big,  hungry  man.  All  the 
Blackfeet  women  kept  a  supply  of  pemmi- 
can  constantly  on  hand.  It  was  considered  a 
great  delicacy,  and  was  most  often  used  for  a 
part  of  a  feast  or  gathering  of  the  people. 

When  Sinopah  was  three  years  old,  his 
father  brought  him  one  day  a  fuzzy,  gray- 
haired  animal  which  he  had  captured  out  on 
the  plains.  It  was  a  " swift "  or  "kit"  fox 
not  more  than  a  month  old.  "  There,  my 
son,  is  a  pet  for  you,"  he  said  ;  "  and  now  we 
have  two  Sinopah  young  ones  in  this  lodge ; 
one  with  two  legs,  and  one  with  four." 

Sinopah  was  not  old  enough  to  understand 
that,  but  he  reached  out  for  the  funny  little 
animal  and  held  it  tight  to  his  breast.  It  did 
not  offer  to  bite  him,  and  was  still  too  small 
to  have  any  fear  of  man.  It  did  fear  the  dogs 
at  first,  but  soon  became  accustomed  to  them. 
Sinopah's  mother  fed  it  all  the  meat  it  could 
eat  every  day,  and  it  became  very  tame  and 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

playful.  It  loved  the  boy  best  of  all  the  people 
in  the  lodge,  and  at  night  always  slept  beside 
him,  curling  up  in  a  little  fluffy  ball  on  the 
pillow.  It  never  made  any  noise  during  the 
daytime,  but  at  night,  if  alarmed  by  any 
thing,  it  would  rouse  up  and  bark  in  the 
oddest  kind  of  a  way.  The  noise  it  made  was 
very  hoarse  and  rasping  and  muffled,  as  if  it 
were  trying  to  bark  with  its  mouth  full  of 
food. 

White  Wolf  owned  several  hundred  horses. 
They  were  allowed  to  graze  out  on  the  plains 
during  the  daytime,  but  at  sundown  they 
were  all  driven  into  camp  and  the  leaders  of 
the  herd  and  the  valuable  buffalo  runners  and 
war-horses  were  picketed  close  to  the  lodge, 
to  prevent  the  enemy  stealing  them.  The 
Blackfeet  were  always  at  war  with  the  Sioux, 
Crows,  Crees,  and  other  tribes,  and  parties  of 
these  warriors  were  always  prowling  around. 

One  bright  moonlight  night,  after  the  fire 
had  died  out  and  every  one  was  sound  asleep, 
the  little  fox  gave  a  couple  of  hoarse,  low 

24 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

growls  that  awakened  Sinopah's  mother.  The 
moonlight  was  streaming  straight  down 
through  the  smoke-hole  of  the  lodge,  mak* 
ing  everything  inside  as  plain  as  day,  and  she 
could  see  the  little  fellow  sniffing  the  air  with 
its  slender,  black,  keen  nose,  and  working  its 
big,  long  ears  nervously  as  it  cocked  its  head 
to  one  side  and  another,  listening  intently. 
"  What  hear  you,  little  wise  one  ?  What  is  it 
outside,  O  keen  smeller  ?"  she  whispered, 
reaching  over  and  patting  him  on  the  back. 

Her  caressing  hand  gave  him  courage  ;  he 
got  up  and  sneaked  out  of  the  lodge,  crouch 
ing  so  close  to  the  ground  that  his  belly 
fairly  touched  it.  The  lodge  skin  was  always 
kept  raised  a  few  inches  at  one  side  of  the 
doorway  so  he  could  go  and  come  whenever 
he  chose  to.  This  time  he  was  gone  no  more 
than  a  minute.  Back  he  came  on  the  run, 
barking  hoarsely,  all  his  fur  stiff  on  end,  and 
climbed  onto  the  couch,  snuggling  close  to 
his  best  friend,  Sinopah. 

"Wake  up  !   Wake  up/'  the  mother  whis- 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

pered,  bending  over  White  Wolf  and  shaking 
him.  "  Awake  !  the  little  fox  has  been  out 
side  and  has  returned  terribly  scared." 

No  sooner  were  the  words  spoken  than 
White  Wolf  was  out  of  bed  and  making  for 
the  doorway  of  the  lodge  with  gun  in  hand. 
Kneeling  down  he  drew  the  curtain  slowly 
aside  and  looked  out:  not  ten  steps  away  a 
man  was  untieing  the  rope  of  his  best  buffalo 
horse  from  the  picket-pin.  As  quickly  as  pos 
sible  he  poked  his  gun  out,  took  aim,  and 
fired.  Bang  it  went,  and  following  the  report 
the  man  gave  a  piercing  scream,  leaped  high 
in  the  air,  and  fell,  never  to  move  again. 

At  that  the  whole  camp  was  awakened. 
Men  rushed  out  of  their  lodges  and  began 
shooting  at  a  number  of  the  enemy,  some 
running  away  on  foot,  others  riding  off  on 
horses  they  had  already  loosed  from  the  pick 
ets.  Some  of  the  women  in  the  lodges  cried 
wildly  in  their  terror;  children  yelled;  dogs 
barked  and  howled.  But  in  White  Wolfs 
lodge  not  a  sound  was  to  be  heard.  Little 

26 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

Sinopah  waked  up,  heard  the  shooting  and 
yelling  and  confusion  of  noise,  and  began  to 
cry,  but  his  mother  quieted  him  at  once: 
"There!  there !"  she  said,  putting  him  back 
in  the  bed  and  covering  him  up;  "it  is  no 
thing;  only  some  men  come  to  steal  horses 
and  father  is  driving  them  away." 

But  for  all  her  brave  words  her  heart  was 
full  of  fear.  The  enemy  was  shooting  back  at 
the  men  of  the  camp ;  one  of  their  bullets 
might  make  her  a  widow  and  Sinopah  an 
orphan.  She  began  praying  the  gods  to  bring 
White  Wolf  safely  back.  Shivering  from 
fright  the  little  fox  stuck  his  nose  under  the 
robe  covering  of  the  couch,  then  wriggled 
down  beside  the  boy  and  growled  occasion 
ally.  The  mother  sat  waiting  and  watching. 
The  old  grandfather  had  been  fumbling  back 
of  his  couch  for  his  bow  and  quiver  case.  He 
found  it  now  and  went  hobbling  out  of  the 
lodge  on  his  rheumatic  legs,  muttering  what 
he  would  do  to  the  enemy  if  he  could  gel 
within  bow-shot  of  them. 

27 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Soon  after  the  old  man  went  out,  the  shoot 
ing  and  yelling  ceased,  and  in  a  few  moments 
the  frightened  women  and  children  became 
quiet.  Then,  away  out  on  the  plain,  faint  at 
first,  but  growing  louder  and  louder,  was 
heard  the  victory  song.  All  knew  what  that 
meant:  the  men  of  the  camp  had  killed  some 
of  the  enemy  and  were  returning.  At  that 
the  people  began  to  pour  out  of  the  lodges> 
each  one  joyfully  shouting  the  name  of  hus 
band,  brother,  or  son  who  had  been  in  the 
fight. 

Sinopah's  mother  gently  lifted  him  from 
the  couch  and  hurried  out  with  him  in  her 
arms,  crying :  "  White  Wolf !  My  man  White 
Wolf!  He  has  fought  the  enemy  and  returns 
victorious ;  a  great  chief  is  my  man  White 
Wolf." 

Close  in  front  of  the  lodge  a  crowd  of 
women  and  children  was  gathering,  and  she 
edged  her  way  into  it.  There  in  their  midst 
lay  a  man  stretched  out  on  his  back,  his 
wide-open,  glassy  eyes  staring  straight  up  at 

28 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

the  moon  ;  but  the  light  had  gone  out  of 
them  forever. 

Old  Red  Crane  was  bending  over  the  body 
examining  it :  "  'T  is  a  Crow  warrior/*  he 
suddenly  shouted,  "  and  't  was  my  son  who 
killed  him.  Great  is  White  Wolf,  the  chief/' 

"True  !  True  !  "  everyone  cried.  " White 
Wolf  is  a  chief." 

The  old  man  looked  around,  saw  Sino 
pah,  and  took  him  from  his  mother's  arms  : 
"Look,  little  one,"  he  said:  "  See  what  your 
father  has  done.  He  has  killed  an  enemy. 
That  is  a  Crow  warrior ;  your  father  killed 
him." 

Sinopah,  looking  down,  clapped  his  hands 
and  laughed.  "Crow  enemy,"  he  lisped. 
"Father  killed  him." 

And  then  he  saw  a  necklace  of  big,  long 
grizzly  bear  claws  around  the  man's  neck : 
"  Give  me  !  Give  me  !  "  he  cried,  motioning 
at  it  impatiently  with  his  little  hand.  "  Sino 
pah  wants  bear  finger  necklace." 

"  Yes,  yes.  You  shall  have  it,"  old  Red 
29 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Crane  answered ;  and  stooping  over  he  cut 
the  string,  then  retied  it  and  slipped  the  neck 
lace  over  the  boy's  head. 

Sinopah  shook  it  and  the  hard  claws  rat 
tled  against  one  another ;  that  pleased  him 
and  he  laughed. 

Again  Red  Crane  called  his  attention  to 
the  dead  enemy  and  quavered  :  "  When  Sino 
pah  grows  up  he  must  be  brave  and  kill  many 
Crow  men." 

The  boy  laughed  and  answered  :  "  Sino* 
pah  kill  many  Crows." 

Meantime  the  men  of  the  camp,  some  on 
horses  and  some  on  foot,  were  coming  closer, 
and  still  singing  the  victory  song.  At  last  they 
came  into  the  camp  bringing  the  scalps  and 
weapons  of  five  Crows  they  had  overtaken 
and  killed.  True,  the  Crows  had  managed  to 
take  a  few  horses  and  get  away  with  them, 
but  that  did  not  matter ;  there  were  plenty 
of  horses.  The  whole  camp  went  wild  with 
joy  over  the  killing  of  the  enemy.  All  the 
rest  of  the  night  there  was  feasting,  singing, 

3° 


Sinopah  and  Sinopah 

and  dancing,  and  over  and  over  the  men  told 
how  they  had  pursued  the  enemy  and  fought 
them. 

All  of  this  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
Sinopah.  In  a  way  his  child  mind  grasped 
the  fact  that  to  kill  an  enemy  was  the  great 
est  thing  a  Blackfoot  could  do.  All  through 
the  excitement  Red  Crane  was  by  his  side 
pointing  out  how  the  people  praised  his  fa 
ther,  and  making  him  repeat  after  them : 
"White  Wolf!  A  great  chief  is  White 
Wolf." 

When  daylight  came  the  old  man  led  him 
out  for  another  look  at  the  dead  Crow  in 
front  of  the  lodge,  and  the  boy  had  no  fear 
of  the  cold,  still  form.  That  was  what  the 
old  grandfather  wanted  :  to  impress  upon  him 
the  fact  that  a  dead  enemy  was  something  to 
make  the  heart  glad, 

It  was  later  in  the  day  that  Sinopah's 
mother  told  how  the  little  fox  had  been  first 
to  discover  the  enemy  and  give  the  alarm. 
The  story  soon  spread  through  the  camp, 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

and  as  owner  of  the  pet,  the  boy  came  in 
for  a  share  of  the  praise  that  was  given  it. 

Among  others,  the  old  medicine  man  Low 
Horn  came  to  the  lodge.  After  a  smoke,  he 
made  those  present  a  little  speech :  "  I  can 
see  that  this  little  Sinopah  is  going  to  have 
great  luck,"  he  said.  "  Surely  the  gods  favor 
him.  It  was  their  will  that  he  should  have 
the  pet  fox  that  saved  us  some  lives  and  our 
horses  last  night.  My  medicine  tells  me  that 
this  boy  is  to  be  a  great  warrior  ;  that  he 
will  live  long ;  that  he  will  be  full  of  pity 
for  those  who  mourn,  and  generous  to  the 
aged  and  the  widows  and  orphans." 

"  That  is  what  we  all  pray  for/'  said  the 
old  grandfather.  "  I  hope  that  the  gods  will 
spare  me  a  little  while  longer.  I  want  to  help 
White  Wolf  teach  the  boy.  I  want  to  be 
here  to  see  him  returning  proud  and  success 
ful  from  his  first  war-trail." 


CHAPTER  III 

SINOPAH    AND    HIS    PLAYFELLOWS 

IT  was  not  until  Sinopah  was  four  years 
old  that  his  mother  ever  let  him  out  of 
her  sight.   If  she  missed  him  for  a  min 
ute,  even,  she  would  run  about  and  find  him, 
and  keep  him  close  to  her  side.   White  Wolf 
often  told  her  that  she  should  give  the  little 
one  more  freedom,  but  for  answer  she  would 
only  shake  her  head  and  reply:  "You  are 
wrong.   He  is  very  much  too  young  to  be 
turned  loose." 

So  White  Wolf  let  her  have  her  way  until 
Sinopah's  fourth  summer  came,  and  then  he 
said  to  her  one  day :  "  You  have  done  wel] 
with  this  boy  of  ours.  You  have  fed  him  good 
food  and  kept  him  strong  and  healthy.  But 
it  is  not  right  for  a  boy  to  be  long  kept  in 
the  lodge ;  he  must  learn  early  to  make  a  play 
of  the  things  that  he  will  have  to  do  in  ear- 

33 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

nest  when  he  grows  up.  From  this  day  on 
he  shall  go  about  as  he  pleases  with  the  child 
ren  of  the  camp/' 

"  What  you  say  to  do  must  be  done,"  Tsist- 
saki  replied,  "and  I  know  that  you  are  right. 
But  you  know  how  it  is  with  us  women;  we 
are  always  timid.  Therefore,  for  a  time,  when 
our  son  goes  out  to  play,  I  will  go  too.  At 
least  I  will  be  near  enough  to  see  that  no 
harm  comes  to  him." 

Tsistsaki,  I  had  forgotten  to  tell  you,  was 
the  name  of  Sinopah's  mother.  In  the  Black- 
foot  language  it  means  Little  Bird  Woman. 
That  is  a  very  pretty  name  and  a  very  good 
one.  Before  her  time  many  noted  women  of 
the  tribe  had  borne  it,  and  for  that  reason 
she  was  very  glad  that  it  had  been  given  to 
her. 

In  the  next  lodge  there  was  a  little  boy 
seven  years  old,  named  Lone  Bull,  and  his 
younger  sister  Otaki,  Yellow  Weasel  Woman, 
with  whom  the  little  Sinopah  was  now  allowed 
to  play,  and  they  were  very  glad  to  have  him 

34 


Sinopah  and  his  Playfellows 

with  them.  There  were  also  many  other 
children  in  that  part  of  the  camp,  some  of 
them  much  older  than  these,  and  often  there 
would  be  twenty  or  thirty  of  them  together  in 
their  different  games.  Better  than  all  the  rest, 
Sinopah  liked  Lone  Bull  and  Otaki,  perhaps 
because  they  lived  so  close  to  him,  and  then 
their  mothers  were  very  close  friends. 

The  two  mothers  got  together  one  day 
and  planned  what  was  to  be  a  surprise  for  the 
children.  Having  decided,  they  set  to  work 
and  for  all  of  a  moon's  time  they  were  very 
busy  when  the  little  ones  were  out  playing. 
And  often,  when  all  others  were  asleep,  they 
worked  far  into  the  night  by  the  light  of  the 
little  lodge  fires.  Another  part  of  the  work 
was  the  training  of  three  big  dogs  for  their 
share  in  the  game  ;  and  right  here  I  must  tell 
you  about  this  breed. 

The  Indians  never  had  horses  until  they 
obtained  them  from  the  Spaniards,  who 
brought  some  to  Mexico  soon  after  the  dis 
covery  of  America.  Before  that  time,  and 

35 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

long  afterwards  until  these  animals  became 
plentiful  in  all  the  Western  country,  the 
Indians  used  dogs  as  pack-animals.  When 
moving  camp  they  were  made  to  carry  heavy 
bundles  of  household,  or,  rather,  "  lodge- 
hold"  things,  and  the  hunters  always  made 
them  lug  in  big  packs  of  meat.  Long  before 
Sinopah  was  born,  the  Blackfeet  had  so  many 
horses  that  the  dogs  were  no  longer  used ;  but 
the  people  loved  the  animals  and  had  many  of 
them ;  some  lodges  as  many  as  twenty-five  or 
thirty.  They  were  very  tall  and  heavy,  long 
haired  and  broad-headed,  and  much  of  the 
color  of  the  wolf,  to  which  they  were  very 
closely  related.  At  night  when  the  wolves 
howled  all  around  the  camp,  the  dogs  would 
answer  them  ;  and  then  the  people  would  say: 
"  Listen !  They  are  talking  to  their  brothers 
out  there  on  the  plain." 

The  mothers  made  pack-saddles  for  the 
dogs,  and  got  them  used  to  being  packed  and 
led  by  a  rawhide  strand.  Then  one  day,  when 
the  children  were  playing  in  the  timber  back 

36 


Sinopah  and  his  Playfellows 

of  the  lodges,  they  packed  all  the  things  they 
had  made  on  two  of  the  dogs,  and  fastened 
the  small  ends  of  fourteen  slender  pine  poles 
to  the  saddle  of  the  third  dog,  and  made  him 
drag  them. 

So,  leading  the  dogs,  they  turned  into  the 
timber  and  soon  came  to  where  the  child 
ren  were  playing.  Sinopah  was  the  first  to 
notice  them,  and  what  he  saw  was  so  sur 
prising  that  at  first  he  could  hardly  believe 
his  eyes,  and  stood  staring  with  his  little 
mouth  wide  open.  And  well  he  might ;  for 
except  that  they  were  packed  dogs  instead  of 
packed  horses,  it  was  as  if  the  women  were 
moving  camp.  The  first  dog  carried  a  small, 
new,  and  brightly  painted  parfleche,  or  raw 
hide  pouch  shaped  like  an  envelope,  on  each 
side  of  its  saddle,  and  piled  on  top,  and  firmly 
lashed  with  a  stout  rawhide  rope,  were  sev 
eral  small  blankets  and  buffalo  robes.  The 
second  dog  also  carried  two  parfleches  and  a 
couple  of  robes,  and  tied  on  top  of  the  pack 
was  a  small  Hudson's  Bay  Company  copper 

37 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

kettle.  Besides  dragging  the  lodge  poles,  the 
third  dog  carried  a  bundle  that  looked  like  a 
small  lodge  skin,  and  that  is  just  what  it  was. 

Sinopah  found  his  voice  :  "  What  is  it  ?" 
he  cried.  "  Oh,  how  funny ;  my  dogs  packed 
just  like  horses/* 

And  then  Lone  Bull  and  Otaki  began  to 
dance  around  the  dogs :  "  Oh,  Sinopah  !  We 
know  what  all  this  is,"  they  shouted.  "Your 
mother  and  ours  have  given  us  a  little  lodge 
and  everything  to  go  in  it." 

"Ai!  They  speak  truth,  little  one,"  his 
mother  told  him ;  "  come,  we  are  going  to 
make  camp  for  you.  Now,  where  shall  it 
be?" 

"  Let  me  lead  the  first  dog  and  be  chief," 
said  Lone  Bull.  "  I  will  go  ahead  and  choose 
the  place  for  the  camp." 

So  the  little  procession  started,  each  child 
leading  a  dog,  the  mothers  following  and 
laughing.  They  had  worked  long  and  hard 
for  all  this,  and  were  very  happy  because  the 
children  were  so  excited  and  pleased. 

38 


Sinopah  and  his  Playfellows 

Lone  Bull,  very  quiet  and  solemn-faced 
now,  led  them  under  three  large  cottonwood 
trees  near  the  edge  of  the  river.  "  We  will 
camp  here,"  he  said.  "  In  this  place  the  camp 
will  be  well  sheltered  from  the  wind.  Out 
there  on  the  plain  is  plenty  of  rich  grass  for 
the  horses.  Here  is  good  water  for  all.  Back 
of  the  bluffs  there,  the  plain  is  covered  with 
buffalo.  The  hunters  will  make  big  killings 
and  the  camp  will  be  red  with  meat.  Come, 
Sinopah,  sit  you  down  here  with  me  while 
the  women  put  up  the  lodge  and  get  things 
in  shape  for  the  night/' 

The  mothers  laughed  to  hear  him  talking 
so  wisely,  and  giving  orders  just  as  if  he  was 
a  chief.  They  soon  unpacked  the  dogs,  little 
Otaki  helping  all  she  could.  That  was  the 
way  things  were  done  by  the  Blackfeet.  The 
women  did  all  the  work  of  packing  and  un 
packing  the  animals,  making  camp  and  get 
ting  firewood  and  water.  But  they  did  not 
work  too  hard ;  not  nearly  as  hard  as  most 
white  women  who  have  a  family  and  no  serv- 

39 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Hnts.  The  men  rested  when  in  camp  and 
were  waited  on  by  the  women  ;  but  they  did 
their  share  of  work:  in  good  weather  and 
bad  they  hunted  to  provide  food  for  their 
own  families,  and  for  all  the  widows  and 
orphans  and  the  old  and  crippled  people  of 
the  great  camp.  That,  and  herding  horses, 
fighting  the  enemy,  and  making  their  bows 
and  arrows,  their  shields  and  clothing,  kept 
them  generally  busy. 

When  the  dogs  were  unpacked  and  turned 
loose,  the  women  tied  four  lodge  poles  to 
gether  about  two  feet  from  the  tips,  —  they 
were  fourteen  feet  long,  —  and  then  set  them 
up  in  the  form  of  a  square-based  cone,  after 
which  all  save  one  of  the  remaining  poles 
were  laid  up  in  a  circle,  their  tips  resting  in 
the  crotches  formed  by  the  tips  of  the  origi 
nal  four.  The  upper  edge  of  the  lodge  skin 
was  then  tied  to  the  remaining  pole  at  the 
proper  height,  and  with  it  raised  at  the  back 
of  the  lodge.  It  was  easy  then  to  bring  the 
side  edges  of  the  lodge  skin  around  and  fasten 

40 


Sinopah  and  his  Playfellows 

them  together  in  the  front  with  wooden 
skewers.  Lastly,  the  poles  were  pushed  out 
ward  at  the  bottom  until  the  skin  set  tightly 
over  them. 

The  women  then  hung  a  curtain  over  the 
little  round  hole  in  front  that  answered  for 
a  doorway.  The  bedding  of  robes  and  blank 
ets  was  carried  in  and  made  up  in  three 
couches.  The  parfleches,  tightly  stuffed  with 
dried  meat,  dried  berries,  and  pemmican, 
were  taken  in  and  laid  open  near  the  door, 
water  was  brought  in  the  little  kettle,  and  the 
work  was  done.  It  was  a  fine  little  lodge,  the 
skin  made  of  tanned  elk  hides  and  almost 
snow-white.  At  the  base  it  was  about  ten 
feet  in  diameter,  large  enough  for  a  dozen 
or  more  children  to  play  in. 

Although  Lone  Bull  and  Sinopah  were 
playing  chiefs,  they  could  not  carry  it  out  to 
the  end.  Long  before  everything  was  fixed, 
they  went  inside  and  got  in  the  way  of  the 
busy  women,  but  the  mothers  did  not  scold 
them.  A  small  fire  was  soon  made  in  the 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

centre  of  the  lodge,  and  when  it  had  burned 
down  to  a  bed  of  red  coals  some  sheets  of 
dried  meat  were  quickly  roasted  on  them. 
Never  were  there  happier  children  than  those 
three,  sitting  there  in  their  own  little  lodge 
and  eating  the  first  meal  in  it.  They  at  once 
began  to  plan  their  play  for  the  next  day,  and 
at  sundown  were  glad  enough  to  go  home 
with  their  mothers,  leaving  the  big  cotton- 
wood  trees  to  guard  their  treasures  during 
the  night. 


CHAPTER   IV 

SINOPAH'S  ESCAPE  FROM  THE  BUFFALO 

THAT  evening  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe 
held  a  council  and  decided  to  move 
camp  from  the  Marias  River,  where 
they  then  were,  out  to  the  Sweet-Grass  Hills. 
These  are  three  lone  buttes  about  one  hun 
dred  miles  east  of  the  main  range  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  right  on  the  line 
separating  Montana  and  the  Canadian  pro 
vince  of  Alberta.  There  were  then,  however, 
no  monuments  to  mark  the  boundary  of  the 
two  countries.  The  line  had  not  yet  been 
surveyed.  When  the  Blackfeet  were  told  that 
the  Americans  —  Long  Knives  —  owned  the 
country  to  the  south  of  the  Hills,  and  the 
English  —  the  Red  Coats  —  the  land  north 
of  them,  they  only  laughed,  and  said  :  "That 
is  a  mistake.  Neither  the  Red  Coats  nor  the 
Long  Knives  own  any  of  this  country.  Away 

43 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

back  in  the  beginning  of  things  our  god  whom 
we  call  Old  Man,  made  the  world,  and  the 
animals,  and  us.  When  he  made  this  part  of 
the  world  he  saw  that  it  was  the  best  of  all, 
and  so  he  gave  it  to  us.  It  is  our  land ;  the 
white  people  cannot  have  it." 

When  they  said  that,  the  Blackfeet  did 
not  know  how  many  the  white  people  were 
and  how  strong.  Since  that  time  their  game 
has  all  been  killed,  and  their  lands  have  been 
taken  from  them  by  the  white  race. 

But  I  must  go  on  with  my  story. 

Very  early  the  next  morning,  the  camp 
crier  went  through  the  great  camp  shouting 
that  it  was  to  be  moved  to  the  Sweet-Grass 
Hills.  Almost  as  fast  as  he  went  the  lodges 
came  down  behind  him.  The  men  drove  in 
and  caught  the  horses,  the  women  packed 
them,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  long 
column  of  riders,  loose  and  packed  horses 
was  strung  out,  heading  north  across  the  big 
plain.  There  were  so  many  people,  so  many 
horses,  that  the  column  was  all  of  three  miles 

44 


Sinopah's  Escape  from  the  Buffalo 

long.  Most  of  the  men  and  women  were 
splendidly  dressed  in  buckskin  clothes,  beaded 
and  painted  and  fringed ;  and  then  the  trap 
pings  of  the  horses,  the  queer  pouches,  sacks, 
and  parfleches  they  carried,  were  also  painted 
in  bright  colors,  so  that  the  whole  procession 
was  not  unlike  a  rainbow  snake  moving  out 
across  the  brown  plain.  It  was  a  romantic 
and  barbaric  pageant  of  shifting  color. 

On  this  morning  there  was  something  new 
in  the  column.  Along  in  the  centre  of  it, 
behind  the  horses  that  carried  White  Wolfs 
lodge  and  packs,  and  his  family,  walked  the 
three  dogs,  one  behind  another,  loaded  with 
the  play  lodge  and  the  little  packs.  Most  of 
the  children  of  the  tribe  had  not  seen  them 
working  the  day  before,  and  now  they  came 
crowding  close  on  their  horses,  very  much 
excited,  and  wishing  that  they  could  have 
such  an  outfit.  Right  behind  the  dogs  were 
Sinopah  and  Lone  Bull  and  Otaki  on  their 
ponies,  and  they  were  very  much  pleased  at 
all  this  attention. 

45 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"  You  must  come  and  visit  us  when  we  set 
up  the  little  lodge,"  they  kept  telling  the  other 
children,  and  all  promised  that  they  would 
do  so. 

"But  here  are  many  hundred  little  ones/' 
Sinopah's  mother  told  him.  "They  can't  all 
get  into  the  lodge." 

"Some  can  come  in  one  time,  and  some 
another,"  he  replied;  "and  it  is  nice  just  to 
stand  and  look  at  the  outside  of  it." 

Sinopah  was  getting  wise. 

There  had  been  so  much  hunting  near  the 
river  that  the  game  had  been  driven  far  out 
on  the  plains,  and  that  was  the  reason  the 
chiefs  had  decided  to  move  to  another  camp 
ing-ground,  where  meat  could  be  more 
quickly  and  easily  killed  by  the  hunters.  It 
was  about  thirty  miles  across  country  to  the 
Hills.  For  half  that  distance  only  a  few  old 
buffalo  bulls  and  two  or  three  bands  of  very 
wild  antelope  were  seen.  But  when  about 
ten  miles  from  the  middle  butte  the  people 
could  see  thousands  and  thousands  of  buffalo 


Sinopah's  Escape  from  the  Buffalo 

and  other  game  close  to  the  north,  the  east, 
and  the  west.  Most  of  the  men  now  rode 
ahead  of  the  column  to  hunt.  They  could  be 
seen  chasing  different  herds  of  the  buffalo  on 
their  swift,  trained  horses,  and  shooting  them 
with  guns  and  bow  and  arrows;  and  where 
they  passed  were  left  many  of  the  big,  brown, 
shaggy-haired  animals  lying  dead  on  the  plain, 
or  standing  all  humped  up  on  weakening  legs, 
sorely  wounded,  and  soon  to  tumble  down 
and  die.  The  sight  made  the  hearts  of  the 
people  glad ;  there  would  be  plenty  of  fresh, 
fat  meat,  many  rich  tongues  to  roast  for  the 
evening  meal;  food  for  many,  many  days  to 
come.  The  old  men  watched  the  chase  with 
glistening  eyes,  and  became  so  excited  that 
many  of  them  pounded  their  safe,  slow  horses 
with  heels  and  quirt,  forgetting  for  the  mo 
ment  that  they  could  not  be  made  to  go  faster 
than  an  ambling  trot;  and  so  they  fell  to  talk 
ing  of  what  big  hunts  they  had  made  in  their 
young  days. 

To  the  east  the  hunters  who  had  gone  in 
47 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

that  direction  rode  out  of  sight  behind  a  low 
ridge  on  the  plain  and  chased  a  herd  of  sev 
eral  thousand  buffalo.  At  first  the  animals 
ran  eastward,  but  the  wind  was  from  the  west 
and  as  they  always  ran  against  it,  they  soon 
circled  and  came  thundering  over  the  ridge 
and  straight  toward  the  long  column  of  the 
moving  camp.  The  hunters  saw  the  danger 
in  that,  but  could  not  turn  them.  The  wo 
men  and  then  the  children  began  to  shriek  and 
cry,  the  old  men  to  shout  and  try  to  drive 
a  part  of  the  column  forward,  the  other  part 
back,  so  as  to  save  them  from  being  gored 
and  trampled  by  the  frightened  and  wildly 
rushing  herd.  It  was  a  terrible  sight,  that  re 
sistless  mass  of  huge  and  sharp-horned  animals 
coming  straight  for  the  centre  of  the  column 
of  traveling  people.  The  leaders  of  the  herd, 
the  swiftest  of  the  cows,  had  of  course  by  this 
time  smelled  the  riders,  but  they  were  now 
powerless  to  stop  or  to  turn  back,  for  the  closely 
packed  herd  behind  was  pushing  them  ;  they 
had  to  keep  going  or  be  trampled  to  death,. 


Sinopah's  Escape  from  the  Buffalo 

The  old  men  had  now  succeeded  in  di 
viding  the  column  by  a  little  gap,  and  were 
driving  the  women  and  children  and  the 
pack-animals  to  the  north  and  to  the  south, 
crowding  them  and  widening  the  gap  as  fast 
as  possible.  The  confusion  increased.  The 
horses  squealed  and  kicked  one  another,  and 
some  of  the  frightened  pack-animals  ran 
away,  scattering  their  loads  along  the  plain. 
A  few  old  women,  regardless  of  danger,  rode 
bawling  after  them  in  hope  of  recovering 
their  little  keepsakes  and  treasures.1 

When  the  column  was  separated  by  a  clear 
space  of  several  hundred  yards,  the  buffalo 
began  passing  through  it,  on  each  edge  so 
close  to  the  people  that  the  wind  caused  by 
their  rush  could  be  felt,  and  their  black, 
angrily  gleaming  eyes  could  be  plainly  seen. 
The  noise  of  their  thudding  and  rattling 
hoofs  and  clashing  horns  was  terrific. 

Sinopah  and  his  mother  were  right  at  the 
north  edge  of  the  gap.  His  little  pony,  al 
ways  very  gentle  before  this,  now  began  to 

49 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

get  frightened  and  show  signs  of  running 
away ;  and  before  any  one  could  prevent  it, 
it  bolted  straight  out  toward  the  passing 
buffalo. 

"  Oh,  my  boy !  My  little  boy !  Save  him  ! " 
his  mother  shrieked,  and  madly  whipping  her 
horse,  and  without  thought  of  the  danger, 
took  after  him. 

Other  women  shrieked  and  called  for  help. 
The  old  men  there  yelled  and  followed  after 
the  mother,  resolved  to  save  her  and  the  boy, 
and  half  crazed  because  of  the  slowness  of 
their  horses. 

Sinopah  never  once  cried  out  or  looked 
back.  The  people  watching  saw  his  little 
mouth  tightly  shut,  saw  him  gripping  the 
saddle  with  both  hands,  and  they  yelled  to 
him  to  let  go  ;  to  fall  off.  And  at  the  same 
time  they  knew  that  it  was  useless  to  shout  to 
him,  for  even  a  clap  of  thunder  would  have 
been  lost  in  the  roar  and  clatter  of  the  pass 
ing  herd. 

It  was  only  a  few  yards  across  the  clear 
5° 


Sinopah's  Escape  from  the  Buffalo 

space  to  the  edge  of  the  stream  of  buffalo. 
As  the  pony  ran  he  seemed  to  go  faster  and 
faster.  The  people  watching  lost  all  hope, 
and  so  did  the  mother  and  the  old  men;  but 
without  a  thought  for  themselves  they  only 
whipped  their  horses  the  harder  and  pressed  on. 
The  pony  now  had  only  a  few  more  jumps 
to  make  in  order  to  reach  the  buffalo,  but, 
excited  as  he  was,  still,  from  force  of  habit 
he  was  watching  out  for  safe  footing.  So  it 
was  that  when  almost  on  the  point  of  hitting 
a  badger  hole  he  suddenly  jumped  sideways 
to  save  himself;  jumped  as  quickly  as  a  cat 
could  have  done,  at  a  right  angle  to  his 
course.  Sinopah  was  not  prepared  for  that,  he 
was  only  bracing  himself  for  straight-ahead 
running,  and  so  when  the  pony  jumped  side 
ways  he  was  jerked  loose  from  all  holds.  His 
little  body  actually  flew  out  of  the  saddle, 
went  spinning  through  the  air,  and  down  he 
came  to  the  ground  on  his  feet,  then  fell, 
and  went  rolling  over  and  over  on  the  short, 
thick  grass,  and  almost  into  the  stream  of 

51 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

buffalo.  The  pony  kept  on.  As  he  came  to 
the  herd  the  animals  shrank  and  made  way 
for  him  ;  he  entered  the  gap  and  in  an  in« 
stant  it  closed  and  he  was  lost  to  sight. 

Sinopah's  mother  reached  him  almost  as 
soon  as  he  stopped  rolling.  Jumping  from 
her  horse,  she  snatched  him  up  from  the 
ground  and  ran  back  as  fast  as  she  could  go, 
thinking  no  more  of  the  horse  nor  caring 
what  became  of  it.  One  of  the  old  men 
caught  the  animal  and  turned  it  over  to  her 
later.  Just  as  she  got  back  to  the  people  the 
last  of  the  long  herd  of  buffalo  passed,  and 
the  thunder  of  their  hoofs  soon  died  away. 
She  set  Sinopah  down  on  his  feet  and  looked 
at  him,  felt  of  him,  all  the  men  and  women 
and  children  there  crowding  around.  Sino 
pah  was  not  crying,  nor  laughing  :  just  then 
his  father  came  up  on  a  big  horse  all  cov 
ered  with  foam,  and  he  cried  out  to  him : 
"  Nina,  awt-sim-o-ta  no-tas.  Nok-o-twe-in- 
is."  (Father,  my  horse  ran  away.  Go  get 
him.) 


HIS  LITTLE  BODY  ACTUALLY  FLEW  THROUGH  THE  AIR 


Sinopah's  Escape  from  the  Buffalo 

Every  one  laughed  then,  and  White  Wolf 
was  quickly  told  what  had  happened.  Very 
gently  he  reached  down  and  drew  Sinopah 
up  on  the  saddle  in  front  of  him  :  "  I  am  not 
surprised  that  the  boy  escaped,"  he  said.  "I 
feel  that  the  gods  are  good  to  this  son  of 
mine.  I  am  sure  that  they  intend  him  to  live 
to  great  age." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    CLAY    TOYS 

THE  hunters  had  killed  several  hun 
dred    buffalo   in   the  chase,  so   the 
chiefs  ordered  camp  to  be  pitched 
right  there  beside  a  small  prairie  lake,  and 
for  five  days  the  people  were  busy  stretching 
and  curing  the  buffalo  hides,  and  cutting  the 
tons  and  tons  of  meat  into  thin  sheets  and 
drying  it. 

That  first  evening  by  the  lake  there  was 
much  talk  about  the  narrow  escape  of  Sinopah. 
A  number  of  instances  were  recalled  where 
the  end  had  been  different. 

"I  remember  a  day  away  back  in  my 
youth,  when  Chief  Three  Suns  lost  his  little 
girl  in  just  such  a  way/'  said  Red  Crane. 
"Horses  are  uncertain  animals.  They  don't 
have  much  sense  at  any  time.  You  all  know 
how  often  they  go  crazy  with  excitement. 

£4 


The  Clay  Toys 

That  was  just  what  happened  to  Sinopah's 
pony  to-day.  The  passing  of  that  great  stream 
of  buffalo,  their  swift  running,  the  thunder 
of  their  hoofs,  all  was  too  much  for  his  little 
brain.  He  just  couldn't  help  running  too; 
some  strange  attraction  there  was  which 
caused  him  to  go  right  into  the  herd  and  run 
with  it. 

"  Well,  about  this  little  girl :  The  hunters 
had  chased  and  killed  many  buffalo  and  the 
women  were  at  work  skinning  the  animals 
and  cutting  up  the  meat.  The  little  girl  sat  on 
her  pony  watching  her  mother  cut  up  a  big 
fat  cow,  when  over  the  hill  came  a  big  herd 
of  buffalo  that  had  been  feeding  at  a  distance, 
had  seen  the  other  herd  running,  and  now 
were  running  to  join  it.  The  animals  came 
close  in  passing,  and  suddenly  the  pony  went 
crazy  and  ran  to  join  them.  Too  late  the 
mother  ran  to  grasp  its  trailing  rope.  The 
little  girl  was  tied  fast  in  her  saddle,  so  she 
could  not  fall  out  of  it  if  she  tried  to.  In  about 
the  distance  of  a  bowshot  that  pony  was  right 

55 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

in  front  of  the  rushing  buffalo,  and  they, 
running  faster,  soon  closed  in  around  it.  Once 
in  a  while  we  could  see  the  little  girl's  head 
above  the  shaggy  backs  of  the  great  animals 
as  her  pony  jumped  along  with  them;  and 
then  suddenly,  a  huge  bull  stuck  its  head 
under  the  pony  and  tossed  it  and  the  little 
girl  high  in  the  air.  Down  they  came  on  the 
backs  of  other  buffalo,  and  that  was  the  end 
for  them.  There  was  mourning  in  the  camp 
that  night,  and  for  many  a  moon  afterward 
in  the  lodge  of  Three  Suns." 

Sinopah  had  not  shown  much  interest  in 
his  grandfather's  story,  and  now  that  it  was 
ended  he  wriggled  out  of  his  mother's  arms 
and  going  over  to  his  father,  said :  — 

"  But  my  horse  is  not  dead,  father  ;  it  ran 
away  with  the  buffalo.  I  want  you  to  find 
and  bring  him  back  to  me." 

"  That  I  shall  not  do,"  the  chief  grimly 
answered.  "  I  forbid  any  one  in  this  camp  to 
bring  it  in.  'T  is  an  animal  of  crazy  head  and 
evil  heart.  Here,  now,  I  give  it  to  the  sun, 

56 


The  Clay  Toys 

also  the  saddle  that  is  on  its  back.  Mother, 
make  a  new  saddle  for  the  boy.  In  place  of 
the  pony,  I  give  him  that  gentle  old  black- 
and-white  pinto  to  ride." 

"  But  I  have  my  own  horses ;  plenty  of 
them,"  Sinopah  objected.  "  Let  me  ride  one 
of  them." 

"  Not  until  you  are  much  older,"  his  fa 
ther  answered.  "  They  are  all  wild  and  too 
strong -mouthed  for  your  little  hands  to 
guide." 

As  soon  as  the  meat  was  dried,  the  people 
moved  on  to  the  middle  butte  of  the  Sweet- 
Grass  Hills,  and  from  there  through  the  gap 
to  Milk  River,  which  runs  past  the  northern 
slope  of  the  small  range.  The  lodges  were 
set  up  in  the  edge  of  the  timber  bordering 
the  stream,  and  the  play  lodge  of  the  child 
ren  was  placed  under  some  big  trees  close 
to  the  water.  The  tribe  remained  here  for 
several  moons.  With  their  mothers  to  watch 
them,  and  often  Grandfather  Red  Crane, 
Sinopah  and  Lone  Bull  and  Otaki  passed  the 

57 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

long  days  playing  in  and  around  the  little 
lodge.  They  had  crowds  of  guests,  children 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  big  camp  to 
join  in  their  sports. 

A  favorite  game  of  Blackfeet  children,  and 
one  as  old  as  the  tribe  itself,  was  the  making 
of  clay  images  of  the  different  animals  of  the 
country.  Not  all  clay  was  good  for  this  pur 
pose,  some  of  it  falling  apart,  or  cracking, 
as  soon  as  it  dried.  The  best  was  dark  gray 
in  color,  very  fine-grained,  and  tough  when 
mixed  with  a  few  drops  of  water  to  about 
an  ounce  of  the  material.  Grandfather  Red 
Crane  discovered  a  foot-thick  deposit  of  this 
good  clay  in  a  riverbank  near  the  play  lodge 
and  called  the  children  :  "  Come  over  here, 
all  of  you,"  he  shouted ;  "  here  is  image  earth 
in  plenty.  Now  I  want  to  see  which  one  of 
you  can  make  the  best  buffalo. " 

With  Sinopah  and  his  two  chums  were  a 
dozen  other  children.  At  the  call  of  the  old 
man,  they  all  ran  to  him  and  with  sticks  and 
sharp  stones  began  digging  out  lumps  of  the 

58 


The  Clay  Toys 

clay ;  pieces  from  the  size  of  a  hazelnut  up 
to  that  of  a  hen's  egg.  These  were  angular 
in  shape  and  very  hard  and  tough,  but  that 
didn't  matter.  Each  child  found  a  good- 
sized,  flat,  smooth  rock,  and  on  it  mashed  the 
clay  lumps  to  fine  powder  with  a  smooth 
hand-stone.  The  longer  the stuflfwas  pounded, 
the  more  flour-like  it  became,  the  better  it 
would  be  for  making  the  images.  Some  of  the 
children  were  in  such  a  hurry  to  start  making 
these  that  they  did  n't  half  pound  their  clay, 
and  afterwards  their  work  cracked  and  fell  to 
pieces. 

Sinopah  had  never  before  played  this  game, 
so  Grandfather  Red  Crane  sat  beside  him  and 
directed  the  work.  It  was  work,  hard  work, 
the  pounding  of  the  clay,  and  the  perspiration 
dripped  from  his  forehead  as  he  kept  on  until 
it  was  very  fine.  It  was  done  at  last,  and  the 
old  man  gathered  it  in  a  flat  heap  in  the  centre 
of  the  flat  rock.  They  were  sitting  right  at 
the  edge  of  the  river,  and  dipping  his  fingers 
into  the  water  he  sprinkled  the  clay  two  or 

59 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

three  times,  and  then  began  kneading  it,  just 
as  a  cook  does  flour  for  bread. 

"  Put  your  hand  into  it ;  feel  of  it,"  old 
Red  Crane  told  Sinopah  every  few  minutes, 
and  the  boy  kept  doing  so. 

At  first  the  clay  was  very  sticky,  large 
portions  of  it  hanging  to  his  fingers;  and 
although  the  stuff  had  been  pounded  very 
fine,  it  felt  coarse  and  lumpy. 

"  Now  here  is  where  a  big  mistake  is  often 
made/*  said  the  old  man.  "  The  clay  feels  as 
if  it  needed  a  lot  more  water,  and  if  you  were 
working  it,  you  would  surely  sprinkle  on  too 
much.  Really  the  stuff  is  almost  wet  enough. 
Now  see :  I  put  on  just  a  few  drops  more, 
and  now  I  work  it  a  long  time/' 

This  time  the  old  man  kneaded  it  steadily 
for  as  much  as  five  minutes.  Then  he  patted 
it  down  into  a  flat  cake  and  ran  the  palm  of 
his  hand  across  it  several  times,  making  a 
smooth,  dull  polish  on  the  surface.  Then  he 
pinched  off  a  small  portion  and  worked  it 
with  the  fingers  of  both  hands.  The  clay  was 

60 


The  Clay  Toys 

now  of  just  the  tough  softness  of  putty  as 
the  glazier  uses  it  for  setting  window  panes. 
"  There !  it  is  just  right/'  said  the  old  man. 
"  Mind  that  you  do  not  ever  make  the  stuff 
any  softer." 

By  this  time  all  the  other  children  had 
prepared  their  clay  and  were  busily  shaping 
out  images  of  the  buffalo.  The  older  ones 
were  quite  skillful  modelers  and  soon  had 
two  or  three  made  and  standing  on  the  bank 
in  front  of  them.  Watching  them,  Sinopah 
began  his  work,  taking  a  lump  of  the  clay 
as  large  as  he  could  hold  in  one  hand  and 
trying  to  shape  it.  He  pinched  and  pulled, 
rounded  and  flattened  the  stuff  for  a  long 
time,  but  could  not  get  it  to  look  like  a  buf 
falo  or  any  other  animal. 

Grandfather  Red  Crane  sat  beside  him, 
smoking  his  long  pipe  and  saying  not  a  word. 
Very  often  Sinopah  would  sigh,  stop  work, 
and  look  beseechingly  up,  and  getting  no 
offer  of  help,  make  another  trial.  And  so  it 
went  on  for  a  long  time.  Quite  often  the 

61 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

old  man  muttered  some  words,  but  the  boy 
did  not  hear.  He  was  praying ;  praying  to 
the  sun :  "  O  great  one  !  O  you  maker  of 
the  day  and  ruler  of  the  world !  "  he  kept 
saying ;  "  give  this  boy  of  ours  an  enduring 
heart.  Give  him  a  brave  heart.  Give  him 
the  will  to  strive  and  keep  striving  for  that 
which  he  wants." 

And  then,  laying  aside  his  pipe,  he  reached 
over  and  took  the  shapeless  lump  of  clay  from 
Sinopah.  "  You  have  done  your  best/'  he 
said ;  "  I  will  now  show  you  how  to  make 
an  image/' 

He  made  a  roll  of  the  clay  so  that  it  was 
much  larger  around  at  one  end  than  at  the 
other,  and  then  pressed  it  somewhat  flat. 
"The  buffalo  is  very  tall  in  front/'  he  said, 
"and  quite  low  in  his  hindquarters,  so  we 
will  fashion  his  high  hump  and  his  big  head 
out  of  the  large  end  of  the  clay." 

He  worked  as  he  talked,  pressing  and 
squeezing  and  pushing  the  mass  of  stuff  with 
thumbs  and  fingers,  and  in  a  very  few  min- 

62 


The  Clay  Toys 

utes  fashioned  a  very  lifelike  body  of  a  buf 
falo.  Then  he  found  a  slender  dead  branch 
of  willow  and  broke  from  it  four  pieces  for 
the  legs,  and  stuck  them  into  the  body  in 
their  proper  place.  This  made  the  model 
look  very  queer,  standing  as  it  did  on  pipe- 
like,  wooden  legs.  But  the  old  man  was  not 
done  with  the  work.  He  next  took  more  clay 
and  covered  the  legs  with  it,  fashioning  the 
stuffon  the  sticks,  covering  them  with  it  com 
pletely  so  that  they  very  closely  resembled 
the  legs  of  the  living  animal.  Much  pleased 
with  his  success  he  set  the  little  buffalo  down 
before  Sinopah  and  said:  "There  is  a  buffalo 
for  you,  my  son ;  now  let  us  see  how  good  a 
one  you  can  make." 

Sinopah  was  very  proud  of  the  gift.  He 
shouted  to  the  other  children  to  come  and 
look  at  it,  and  they  crowded  around  him 
bringing  the  animals  they  had  made.  Not 
one  of  them  was  so  good  as  that  modeled  by 
the  old  man,  and  with  fresh  clay  they  began 
at  once  to  try  to  do  better  work.  The  first 

63 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

buffalo  that  Sinopah  made  was  not  a  good 
one,  but  at  least  it  had  the  shape  of  one  in  a 
rough  way.  It  was  plain  enough  that  he  had 
tried  to  make  a  model  of  that  animal.  Old 
Red  Crane,  smoking  his  long-stemmed  stone 
bowl  pipe,  sat  close  by  all  the  morning  and 
encouraged  him;  the  boy  made  one  model 
after  another,  improving  each  time.  By  the 
time  the  sun  was  straight  above  in  the  sky 
he  had  made  seven  little  buffalo  images,  and 
the  last  one  was  a  very  fair  likeness  of  the 
great  shaggy  beast  of  the  plains. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  the  day  and  the 
children  were  very  hungry,  but  they  were  so 
interested  in  making  clay  buffalo  that  they 
would  not  go  home  to  eat.  Their  mothers 
had  thought  of  their  needs,  however,  and 
coming  very  quietly  to  the  play  lodge  under 
the  trees,  they  built  a  small  fire  in  it,  and 
broiled  plenty  of  fresh  fat  meat  over  the 
coals.  Then  they  called  the  children  and  old 
Red  Crane,  and  what  a  feast  they  all  had. 
It  was  very  simple  fare;  just  meat,  and  a 


The  Clay  Toys 

handful  of  dried  service  berries  for  each ;  but 
none  of  them  wanted  anything  else ;  not  even 
salt.  Since  the  very  beginning  of  things  the 
Indians  had  lived  on  meat  and  a  few  berries, 
fresh  or  dried.  It  was  the  white  man  who 
taught  them  to  have  other  wants. 

After  eating  their  fill,  the  children  hur 
ried  back  to  the  river  and  commenced  mod 
eling  again.  Now  that  they  had  numbers  of 
cla)  buffalo,  they  made  other  animals ;  deer, 
bears,  elk,  bighorn,  wolves,  beavers,  horses, 
antelope,  and  mountain  goats.  Along  late  in 
the  afternoon  each  child  had  a  really  life 
like  set  of  these.  Grandfather  Red  Crane, 
still  with  them,  said  several  times  that  it  was 
time  for  the  little  ones  to  go  home,  but  stil] 
they  lingered,  finishing  just  one  more  ani 
mal.  They  had  eyes  for  their  work  only,  but 
the  old  man  was  always  looking  about  him, 
up  and  down  the  river,  and  across  at  the 
bluffs  on  the  north  side  of  the  valley.  Naught 
moved,  or  flew,  or  swam  but  what  he  saw 
it. 

65 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

So  it  was  that  he  saw  the  bushes  trem 
bling  and  shaking  a  little  way  upstream  from 
where  he  and  the  children  sat,  and  he 
knew  that  this  was  not  caused  by  the  wind. 
He  sat  very  still  and  watched.  He  wondered 
what  it  could  be  that  was  coming  toward 
them. 

Presently  he  saw  a  small,  black-eyed  face 
peering  through  the  leafy  branches  at  the 
edge  of  the  thicket.  Then  another,  and  an 
other,  and  he  knew  one  of  them,  the  face  of 
Weasel  Tail,  a  boy  who  lived  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  big  camp.  "  Ah-ha !  he  is  the 
leader  of  the  boys  up  there,"  he  thought, 
"and  has  come  to  raid  my  children  here." 

But  he  said  nothing,  and  watched  and 
waited.  And  then,  suddenly,  with  loud  cries, 
little  Weasel  Tail  sprang  out  of  the  brush, 
leading  a  dozen  other  whooping  youngsters, 
and  the  whole  band  came  skurrying  down 
the  shore  and  fell  upon  the  little  group  of 
clay  image-makers. 

Then  what  fierce  excitement  and  strug- 
66 


The  Clay  Toys 

gling  and  wrestling  took  place  for  posses 
sion  of  the  toys.  The  little  girls,  of  course, 
shrieked,  and  cried,  and  ran  homeward  for 
protection.  But  the  boys  of  both  parties  just 
struggled  with  one  another.  Sinopah  was 
tackled  by  an  upper  camp  boy  of  about  his 
own  age,  and  over  and  over  they  rolled  on 
the  gravel  almost  into  the  water.  Then  the 
boy  quickly  sprang  up,  seized  all  the  images 
he  could,  and  ran  away  whence  he  had  come, 
all  the  others  of  the  band  going  too  and 
carrying  away  nearly  all  the  images  that  had 
been  made. 

Through  it  all,  old  Red  Crane  had  saf 
quietly  laughing,  and  letting  the  struggle  go 
which  way  it  would. 

Now  that  it  was  all  over,  Sinopah  ran  over 
to  him  and  asked:  "Grandfather,  why  did 
you  let  those  upper  camp  boys  take  our  ani 
mals?" 

"Because  they  earned  them,"  the  old  man 
replied.  "That  was  the  game.  It  was  war. 
Those  boys  were  your  enemies  and  they  con- 

67 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

quered.  It  is  now  your  turn.  You  must  go 
and  raid  them.  No,  not  to-day.  You  all 
must  send  scouts  to  watch  their  play,  and 
sometime  you  will  have  a  good  chance  to  get 
as  good  as  they  took  from  here." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    STORY    OF    SCARFACE 

fcHE  children  of  the  upper  end  of  the 
camp  kept  the  clay  animals  they  had 
captured  just  two  days,  and  then 
they  in  turn  were  surprised  by  Sinopah's  older 
comrades  and  lost  them,  and  a  number  of 
their  own  toys  also.  In  this  encounter  a  boy 
of  each  party  got  very  angry  and  hurt  one 
another  in  the  rough  scramble.  That  even 
ing  when  their  fathers  came  home  from  hunt 
ing  there  was  much  talk  about  the  trouble; 
it  was  very,  very  seldom  that  Blackfeet  child 
ren  quarreled  and  came  to  blows,  and  Red 
Crane  and  several  other  old  men  were  called 
to  decide  what  had  best  be  done. 

In  the  morning  all  the  children  of  the 
camp  were  called  together  and  Red  Crane 
gave  them  a  short  talk:  — 

"My  little  ones/'  he  said,  "every  day  you 
69 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

are  growing  taller  and  stronger  and  will  soon 
be  strong  men.  The  Blackfeet  will  soon  de 
pend  upon  you  to  fight  the  enemy,  and  they 
are  all  around  us,  and  to  keep  our  great  plains 
and  the  herds  of  game  upon  them  for  our 
own  use:  that  is  one  reason  why  you  must 
never  quarrel  with  one  another.  If  you  quarrel 
when  you  are  children,  you  will  quarrel  with 
one  another  when  you  are  older ;  it  is  only  by 
being  all  brothers,  as  it  were,  by  loving  one 
another  and  standing  by  one  another,  that 
you  can  keep  the  tribe  from  being  conquered 
by  its  many  enemies.  Another  reason  is  that 
the  great  Sun  himself  forbids  it.  Now,  pro 
mise,  all  of  you,  that  there  shall  be  no  more 
of  this." 

"We  take  your  words!"  "We  will  quar 
rel  no  more/'  they  shouted  in  answer,  and 
were  soon  off"  to  play  again. 

That  evening,  when  the  family  were  all 
sitting  around  the  lodge  fire,  Sinopah  rolled 
across  the  couch  into  his  father's,  arms  and 
asked:  "Who  is  the  Sun?  How  can  he  tell 

70 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

us  what  to  do  ?  Who  is  Old  Man  to  whom 
I  hear  you  praying  ? " 

"  I  am  glad  you  asked,"  White  Wolf  re 
plied.  "  It  is  time  for  you  to  know  all  about 
these  things  and  to  begin  praying  with  us. 
Listen,  now,  and  I  will  try  to  make  you 
understand. 

"  In  the  beginning  was  no  one  but  Old 
Man.  He  was  the  same  as-  any  of  us  except 
that  he  had  yellow  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  a 
white  skin,  and  had  very  powerful  medicine 
which  enabled  him  to  do  great  things.  The 
time  came  when  he  thought  he  would  like 
to  have  a  world,  so  he  made  this  one.  He 
made  it  flat,  with  a  straight  down-cut  edge 
all  around  it.  But  that  didn't  suit  him,  so  in 
different  parts  of  it  he  made  a  lot  of  running 
jumps,  and  at  every  jump  a  mountain  arose 
under  him.  Then  from  the  mountains  he 
cut  gashes  in  the  plains,  and  wherever  he  cut, 
valleys  were  formed  and  creeks  and  rivers  ran 
in  the  bottom  of  them.  This  looked  good 
enough  for  the  world,  and  so  he  then  made 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

living  things  on  it:  people,  animals,  and  all 
the  grasses  and  things  that  leaf. 

"  But  when  Old  Man  made  the  people  he 
gave  them  paws  instead  of  hands,  so  they 
were  quite  helpless  and  at  the  mercy  of  the 
bears  and  all  other  animals ;  whenever  they 
wanted  to,  the  animals  killed  and  ate  the 
people. 

"  Old  Man  was  so  busy  going  here  and 
there  inspecting  the  world,  and  the  things 
he  had  made,  that  it  was  some  time  before  he 
saw  what  was  going  on.  When  he  did  notice 
it,  he  sat  down  on  a  big  rock  and  scratched 
his  head  many  times  and  thought  a  long  time 
before  he  knew  what  to  do.  He  then  called 
all  the  people  to  him  and  slit  down  their 
claws,  so  that  they  became  fingers  and  thumbs, 
with  which  the  people  could  do  all  kinds  of 
work.  He  showed  them  first  how  to  make 
bows  and  arrows,  stone  knives  and  arrow- 
points,  and  then  taught  them  how  to  shoot 
and  kill  and  cut  up  the  animals.  Lastly,  he 
gave  them  fire  with  which  to  cook  the  meat 

72 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

and  keep  themselves  warm.  Since  that  time 
we  have  been  more  and  more  the  masters  of 
the  world.  Better  than  all  the  other  tribes 
he  made,  Old  Man  liked  us  Blackfeet.  He 
saw  that  this  part  of  the  world  was  the  best 
part,  and  so  he  gave  it  to  us  with  all  its  many 
kinds  of  game. 

"  Away  back  in  those  first  days  the  Black- 
feet  had  much  to  learn.  It  was  the  fault  of  a 
woman  that  caused  sickness  and  death.  The 
first  person  to  get  sick  was  a  little  baby. 
The  mother  took  it  to  Old  Man  and  asked 
why  it  cried ;  why  it  refused  to  eat  ? 

"'It  is  sick/  he  told  her,  'and  it  may  die.' 

"'Die?  What  is  that?'  the  woman  asked. 

" '  It  is  what  happens  to  an  animal  when 
men  shoot  it  with  their  arrows/Old  Man  re 
plied.  'They  cease  to  breathe,  the  heart  stops 
beating,  that  is  the  end  of  them.' 

"  '  But  my  child  must  not  die/  the  woman 
cried.  'You  made  us;  you  are  powerful;  I 
pray  you  to  keep  it  from  dying/ 

"  Old  Man  stood  silent  a  long  timec  They 
73 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

were  at  the  edge  of  a  river.  At  last  he  said 
to  her  : '  Woman,  it  shall  be  as  you  say  about 
this.  Now  here  is  a  stone,  and  here  is  a  piece 
of  wood.  I  will  throw  into  the  water  which 
one  of  them  you  choose.  If  it  floats,  then 
your  child  and  all  the  people  shall  live  for 
ever;  if  it  sinks,  then  all  of  you  and  those 
yet  to  be  born  must  die  from  one  cause  and 
another/ 

"  Old  man  had  picked  up  the  rock  and  the 
piece  of  wood  while  talking,  and  he  now  held 
them  out.  <  Choose  the  one  I  shall  throw/ 
he  told  her. 

"  The  woman  stood  staring  at  the  two 
things  a  long  time,  and  the  longer  she  looked 
at  them  the  more  frightened  she  became ; 
and  at  last  she  cried  :  '  Throw  the  rock  ! ' 

"  Old  Man  did  as  he  was  told ;  the  stone 
struck  the  water  with  a  big  splash  and  sank ; 
the  baby  died  in  its  mother's  arms  right  there. 
Death  had  come  to  the  people  by  a  woman's 
unwise  choice. 

"  For  a  long  time  after  that,  whenever  a 
74 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

person  became  sick  he  soon  died.  The  people 
had  not  yet  learned  about  different  medicines, 
and  other  ways  for  curing  sickness.  Nor  could 
they  get  help  from  Old  Man:  he  had  told 
them  all  good-bye  and  gone  into  the  West, 
his  last  words  being  that  at  some  far  future 
time,  when  they  desperately  needed  him,  he 
would  return.  Day  after  day  they  now  cried 
out  for  him,  and  in  vain. 

"  A  number  of  winters  came  and  went,  and 
all  the  time  the  people  kept  dying  in  great 
numbers.  At  last  a  young  man  who  had  a 
big  scar  on  his  face  set  out  to  visit  all  the 
animals,  hoping  that  some  one  of  them  might 
tell  him  how  to  get  rid  of  the  scar.  He  trav 
eled  on  and  on  for  several  moons,  visiting  in 
turn  the  bear,  the  beaver,  the  wolf,  and  all 
the  others  of  the  country.  In  those  days  all 
of  them  could  talk. 

"  *  O  my  brother  ! '  he  said  to  the  bear,  '  I 
have  heard  that  you  have  great  medicine : 
I  beg  you  to  have  pity  and  remove  this  scar 
from  rny  face/ 

75 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"  *  I  am  sorry,  but  I  have  n't  the  power  to 
do  that,'  the  bear  replied.  '  Now  there  is  the 
beaver ;  he  is  the  wisest  of  all  us  animals ;  I 
advise  you  to  see  him  about  this.' 

"  But  the  beaver  could  not  remove  the 
scar.  He  advised  the  young  man  to  call  on 
the  badger ;  the  badger  sent  him  on  to  the 
wolf;  and  so  it  went  until  Scarface  had  seen 
them  all.  Then  he  gave  up  all  hope,  and  at 
last,  arriving  at  the  shore  of  a  great  lake,  lay 
down  on  the  sands  to  die. 

"  Then  it  was  that  two  swans  came  swim 
ming  close  to  the  shore  where  he  lay  crying, 
and  asked  what  was  his  trouble.  Scarface  told 
them,  and  when  he  had  ended  the  swans  said  : 
'  Brother,  do  not  despair  :  one  there  is,  greater 
than  all  you  have  asked  for  help.  His  home 
is  out  there  on  an  island ;  you  must  go  to 
him/ 

"  Scarface  rose  up  and  looked  out  on  the 
great  lake,  and  could  see  nothing  but  the 
blue  water  extending  to  the  very  rim  of 
the  world.  'There  is  no  island,'  he  said 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

mournfully,  and  sat  down  on  the  sand.  '  Oh, 
why  did  you  put  false  hope  in  my  heart  ? 
Go,  now,  and  let  me  die  in  peace.' 

"  '  But  we  told  you  truth,  brother,1  the 
swans  replied,  '  Truly,  an  island  is  out  there, 
but  so  far  it  cannot  be  seen  from  here.  We 
pity  you  ;  we  wish  to  help.  Come  now  and 
lie  down  on  our  backs  and  we  will  carry  you 
to  the  sacred  island.  Never  yet  has  any  man 
of  this  world  stepped  foot  on  it/ 

"  Scarface  looked  at  the  swans,  at  the  lake, 
and  then,  reaching  for  his  bow  and  arrows, 
which  he  had  thrown  away  when  he  lay 
down  to  die,  he  went  and  lay  down  on  the 
backs  of  the  big  birds.  '  It  matters  not  where 
I  die/  he  thought.  *  It  may  as  well  be  out  on 
that  great  blue  water  as  here  on  this  sandy 
shore/ 

"  The  swans  were  big  and  strong,  their 
backs  made  a  soft  couch.  While  they  swam 
steadily  and  swiftly  westward  on  the  deep 
waters  Scarface  slept.  When  he  awoke  they 
were  nearing  a  big  island,  and  presently, 

77 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

having  come  to  shallow  water  and  near  the 
shore,  they  told  him  to  get  off.  <This  is  the 
place/  they  said,  *  and  yonder  behind  that 
grove  of  trees  lives  the  great  one  ' ;  and  with 
that  they  turned,  and  rising  on  their  power 
ful  wings  flew  away  in  the  direction  whence 
they  had  come. 

"  Scarface  waded  ashore  and  right  on  the 
beach  met  the  most  beautiful  youth  he  had 
ever  seen.  His  clothing  was  of  soft,  white, 
tanned  skins  embroidered  with  quill-work 
of  rainbow  colors. 

"  '  You  are  welcome  here/  said  the  youth. 
'  I  will  tell  you  my  name :  it  is  Morning 
Star.  My  father  is  the  Sun.  My  mother  is 
the  Moon.  We  live  here  on  this  island/ 

"  Scarface  then  told  who  he  was,  and  why 
he  had  come  to  this  far  place.  Morning  Star 
said  that  he  had  come  to  the  right  one  to 
help  him. 

"  '  But,  brother/  he  added,  '  before  going 
to  our  lodge  I  want  you  to  do  something' 
for  me.  Out  there  on  that  rocky  point  live 

78 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

a  tribe  of  big,  sharp-billed  birds.  One  by 
one  they  have  killed  my  brothers,  and  I  am 
forbidden  to  fight  them.  I  want  you  to  go 
and  kill  them  for  me/ 

"  Scarface  did  not  have  to  be  asked  twice. 
He  strung  his  bow,  ran  out  on  the  point,  and 
began  to  shoot  the  wicked  birds.  They  came 
at  him  with  loud,  harsh  cries  and  tried  to 
stab  him  with  their  bills,  and  one  by  one 
they  fell  around  him  until  all  were  dead. 
Then  the  two  young  men  cut  off  their  scalps 
and  carried  them  to  the  Moon.  She  was  a 
beautiful  woman  and  was  dressed  in  strange 
and  gorgeous  garments.  When  Scarface  was 
made  known  to  her  she  hugged  and  kissed 
him,  and  then  wept.  'I  cry  from  think 
ing  of  my  dead  sons,'  she  said.  'You  have 
avenged  their  death ;  you  have  killed  those 
wicked  birds,  so  now  I  take  you  for  my  son.' 

"  She  then  took  Scarface  into  her  beauti 
ful  big  lodge  and  gave  him  choice  food.  It 
was  now  almost  night,  and  soon  the  Sun 
came  home  from  his  daily  task  of  giving 

79 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

light  and  heat  to  the  world.  When  told  what 
Scarface  had  done,  he  gave  him  kind  greet 
ing.  *  Young  Blackfeet,'  he  said,  <  you  have 
done  much  for  us  this  day :  remain  with  us 
for  a  time  and  I  will  do  something  for 
you.' 

"  Scarface  did  stay  there  a  long  time. 
Every  night  the  Sun  taught  him  sacred 
songs,  and  over  and  over  showed  him  dif 
ferent  kinds  of  plants  that  were  cures  for 
different  kinds  of  sicknesses.  Also  he  said 
that  he  was  the  ruler  of  the  whole  world 
and  that  people  must  pray  to  him  for  what 
they  need.  And  that  they  must  love  one  an 
other,  and  not  lie  or  steal.  That  they  must 
be  very  kind  to  the  old  people,  and  the  widows 
and  orphans. 

"  And  then,  one  night,  the  Sun  rubbed  a 
powerful  black  medicine  on  the  young  man's 
face  which  removed  the  scar.  Then  loading 
him  with  many  beautiful  presents  he  led  him 
out  of  the  lodge,  the  Moon  and  Morning  Star 
following  Before  them  stretched  the  Wolf's 

80 


The  Story  of  Scarface 

Road,1  and  the  Sun  pointed  to  it.  '  There  is 
your  trail,'  he  said.  *  Follow  it  and  you  will 
arrive  at  the  camp  of  the  Blackfeet.  Do  not 
forget  that  you  are  to  teach  them  all  that  I 
have  taught  you.' 

"At  that  the  Moon  and  Morning  Star 
wept,  and  so  did  Scarface,  for  he  had  learned 
to  love  them  as  much  as  they  did  him.  Tears 
almost  blinded  him  as  he  started  out  on  the 
shining  trail  that  mounted  before  him  far 
up  into  the  sky.  On  and  on  he  followed  its 
straight  way,  and  at  last  came  to  the  lodges 
of  the  people. 

"So  it  was,  O  Sinopah,  that  the  people 
got  help  in  time  of  sickness  and  trouble. 
That  shining  Maker  of  the  Day  is  our  great 
est  god  and  you  must  ever  pray  to  him,  and 
make  him  presents." 

That  night  the  little  boy  sat  by  the  fire 
a  long  time  and  thought  about  all  he  had 
heard.  Then  he  went  to  the  doorway  of  the 

1  The  Wolf's  Road,  Mah-kwi  Ok-so-kwi,  is  the  con 
stellation  of  stars  we  commonly  call  the  Milky  Way. 

Si 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

lodge  and  old  Red  Crane  pointed  out  the 
Wolf's  Road.  He  thought  that  he  would  try 
to  climb  it  some  day  when  he  grew  to  be  a 
man. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   BUFFALO  TRAP 

THE  leaves  of  the  cottonwoods  along 
the  stream  were  falling;  high  up 
in  the  blue  sky  geese  and  swans  and 
ducks  were  honking  and  trumpeting  and 
whistling  and  quacking  as  they  winged  their 
way  southward  toward  the  land  of  Us-kus- 
sai  Ne-po-yi :  always  summer.  Milk  River 
was  not  a  good  place  to  winter,  because  there 
was  nowhere  along  its  upper  stretches  much 
fuel ;  so  the  chiefs  held  a  big  council  one 
day  to  decide  where  the  cold  season  should 
be  passed.  After  a  whole  afternoon's  talk  it 
was  found  that  most  of  them  preferred  the 
upper  Two  Medicine  River,  and  there  the 
camp  was  moved  after  a  couple  of  days' 
travel.  The  lodges  were  set  up  in  a  very 
heavily  timbered  bottom  that  was  sheltered 

83 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

on  the  north  by  a  high  sandstone  cliff  sev 
eral  miles  long. 

This  place  the  Blackfeet  called  the  Pis- 
kan,  or,  as  we  would  say,  "The  Trap  "  :  for 
here  they  were  wont  to  decoy  and  kill  — 
when  everything  was  right  —  a  whole  herd 
of  buffalo  at  one  time.  The  last  time  the 
tribe  had  been  there,  Sinopah  was  so  young 
that  he  did  not  know  what  was  being  done, 
but  since  then  he  had  heard  of  the  wonder 
ful  way  in  which  the  animals  were  there 
lured  to  their  death,  and  he  was  very  anxious 
to  see  it  all. 

After  the  camp  was  well  settled,  prepara 
tions  were  made  for  decoying  or  trapping  a 
herd  of  buffalo.  Only  a  few  men  in  the 
whole  tribe  were  able  to  do  this,  and  so  they 
were  believed  to  have  great  "  medicine  "  : 
that  is,  mysterious  power  given  them  by  the 
gods.  One  of  these  men  was  White  Wolf, 
the  father  of  Sinopah. 

White  Wolf  came  into  his  lodge  one  even 
ing  after  a  visit  to  the  other  chiefs,  and  said 

84 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

to  old  Red  Crane:  "There  is  not  much 
meat  left  in  the  lodges:  we  have  decided 
that  it  is  best  to  try  to  make  a  big  killing  to 
morrow;  you  are  asked  to  decoy  a  herd/' 

"  Hah  !  That  all  depends  on  many  things," 
the  old  man  answered.  "  There  must  be  a 
herd  in  the  right  place  out  there  on  the 
plain ;  the  wind  must  not  be  in  the  south  ; 
and  my  medicine  has  to  be  right,  else  I  will 
fail  to  do  the  work.  I  will  begin  now,  how 
ever,  and  try  my  best  to  bring  meat.  Send  the 
camp  crier  around  at  once  to  notify  the  hunt 
ers  to  sing  the  coyote  song  before  they  sleep." 

Old  Four  Bears  was  the  camp  crier.  As 
soon  as  a  horse  could  be  saddled  he  mounted 
it  and  rode  among  the  lodges  from  one  end 
of  the  camp  to  the  other,  shouting :  "  Listen ! 
Listen,  O  ye  hunters.  If  all  be  right,  Red 
Crane  will  bring  meat  tumbling  down  over 
the  cliff  to-morrow.  Pray  then  to  the  gods 
for  success  ;  sing,  all  of  ye,  the  lucky  hunter's 
song,  the  song  of  the  coyote  —  greatest  hun 
ter  of  all ;  sing  it  this  night  before  you  sleep/* 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

As  he  went  his  way,  prayer  and  song  were 
started  in  every  lodge,  and  within  a  short 
time  several  thousand  men's  deep  voices  were 
intoning  prayers  and  quavering  the  strange, 
staccato  tune  of  the  song.  Powerful  and  weird 
was  the  sound  of  it  all  in  the  still,  frosty 
night.  Outside  the  lodges  the  dogs  sat  up  on 
their  haunches  and  howled ;  and  from  beet 
ling  cliffs  and  the  far  reaches  of  valley  and 
plain  the  wolves  joined  in  with  long-drawn, 
melancholy  cry.  Had  you  been  there,  as  I 
was,  you  too  would  have  been  strangely  af 
fected  by  it  all.  It  was  a  very  solemn  and 
sacred  time :  men,  women,  children,  even  the 
very  animals,  were  united  in  beseeching  their 
gods  for  food. 

Sinopah  sat  very  quiet  and  wide-eyed 
watching  his  grandfather.  The  old  man  first 
got  out  his  paint-bag  and  rubbed  reddish- 
brown  ochre,  color  best  loved  by  the  gods, 
on  face  and  hands ;  then  he  sang  the  coyote 
song ;  and  lastly,  having  filled  and  lighted  a 
pipe,  blew  smoke  toward  the  four  corner? 

86 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

of  the  earth,  toward  sky  and  ground,  and 
prayed. 

"  Hai-yu,  all-powerful  Sun  !  Hai-yu,  Old 
Man  !  Hai-yu,  thou  little  under-water  crea 
ture,"  he  began,  "  have  pity  on  us  and  give 
us  food.  I  pray  you  to  give  me  power  to 
bring  much  food  to  all  your  children  here." 

And  so  he  went  on,  praying  and  singing 
for  a  long  time.  Before  the  old  man  finished, 
Sinopah  became  very  sleepy,  but  kept  his  eyes 
wide  open  and  would  not  lie  down :  there 
was  something  in  that  prayer  he  wanted  to 
know  about : 

"  Grandfather,"  he  cried,  when  the  old 
man  was  done,  "  you  prayed  also  to  a  little 
under-water  creature.  What  animal  is  that 
—  a  mink  —  a  muskrat  —  and  is  it  very 
powerful  ?" 

Red  Crane  reached  over  and  took  the  boy 
in  his  arms :  "  Little  one,  that  is  the  one 
thing  I  may  not  tell  you,"  he  replied.  "  The 
little  animal  is  my  medicine  ;  my  dream  ani 
mal.  Like  all  other  Blackfeet  youths,  and  as 

87 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

you  must  do  some  day  before  you  are  grown 
and  start  out  to  war,  I  went  away  from  the 
camp  by  myself  and  fasted  many  days  and 
nights  in  order  to  get  a  vision ;  that  is,  to 
get  a  medicine,  a  secret  helper  to  guide  me 
safely  through  the  dangers  of  life. 

"  From  long  fasting  my  body  became 
weak,  and  at  last  it  slept  soundly.  Then  it 
was  that  I  —  my  shadow  —  left  the  body 
and  traveled  far,  and  asked  all  whom  I  met 
for  help.  It  was  while  I  lay  by  the  side  of  a 
stream  that  this  certain  little  creature  came 
up  out  of  the  water  and  sat  on  the  shore  near 
me.  €  I  heard  your  call  for  help/  it  told  me, 
'  and  I  have  come  to  help  you.  When  you 
pray  to  the  Sun  and  Old  Man,  pray  also  to 
me  and  I  will  be  your  friend,  your  helper, 
coming  often  to  you  when  your  body  sleeps 
and  telling  you  what  to  do,  and  what  not 
to  do.  But  you  must  never  tell  any  one  my 
name.' 

"  So  it  was,  little  Sinopah,  that  I  got  my 
medicine,  my  secret  helper.  I  am  old  ;  I 

88 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

have  been  through  many  battles;  through 
dangers  of  all  kinds ;  and  have  suffered  no 
harm.  And  many,  many  times  this  little 
under-water  creature  has  come  to  me  in  my 
dreams  and  given  me  warnings.  Truly,  it  is 
a  powerful  secret  helper  that  I  have/1 

"  Grandfather,  when  can  I  go  fast  and  get 
my  medicine?"  Sinopah  asked  when  the  old 
man  had  finished. 

"  Oh,  not  for  a  long  time.  Not  until  you 
have  seen  sixteen  or  eighteen  winters,"  he 
replied. 

And  then,  tucked  under  warm,  soft  buf 
falo  robes  by  his  mother,  the  boy  almost  at 
once  fell  asleep. 

The  next  morning  every  one  was  up  be 
fore  sunrise  and  ready  for  the  trapping  of  the 
buffalo.  Some  young  men  had  slept  out  on 
the  plains  back  of  the  cliffs,  and  hurrying 
into  camp  they  reported  that  a  band  of  five 
or  six  hundred  of  the  animals  were  grazing 
on  the  second  ridge  north  of  the  valley.  Old 
Red  Crane  said  that  his  dream  had  been  favor- 

89 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

able.  He  tossed  up  a  feather,  found  that  the 
wind  was  from  the  northwest,  and  gave  orders 
for  the  people  to  go  to  the  rock-piles.  In  a 
few  minutes  several  hundred  men  and  women, 
girls  and  boys,  were  climbing  a  trail  out  of 
the  valley  at  the  lower  end  of  the  cliffs.  They 
went  on  foot,  Sinopah's  father  leading  him 
and  helping  him  up  over  the  hardest  places. 
Not  until  all  of  the  climbers  had  reached  the 
top  of  the  cliff,  and  disappeared  out  on  the 
plain,  did  old  Red  Crane  start.  He  rode  a 
small,  swift  horse  that  was  covered  with  a 
buffalo  robe,  and  himself  wore  a  robe  of  the 
same  kind.  He  went  some  distance  down 
the  valley  and  climbed  out  of  it  by  an  easy, 
sloping  trail. 

Meantime  Sinopah,  with  his  father  and 
the  other  people,  had  come  to  the  top  of  the 
cliffs  at  their  eastern  end,  and  then  turned 
westward  along  the  edge  of  them.  After 
walking  a  half-mile  or  more,  they  came  to 
where  they  were  highest  and  steepest,  there 
being  in  that  place  a  straight  drop  of  more 

90 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

than  a  hundred  feet  to  the  boulder-covered 
slope  below.  Here  on  top  of  the  cliff,  a  little 
way  back  from  the  brink  and  a  hundred 
yards  apart,  began  two  ever-widening  rows 
of  rock-piles  that  extended  out  on  the  plain 
for  more  than  a  mile  like  an  enormous  letter 
V.  Beyond  them  was  a  low  ridge,  and  still 
farther  north  another  ridge,  on  which  a  large 
herd  of  buffalo  were  feeding. 

White  Wolf  now  turned  to  the  people  and 
told  them  to  hurry  and  conceal  themselves 
behind  the  piles  of  rock,  and  they  scattered 
out  along  the  two  lines  of  the  V,  one  or  two 
and  sometimes  three  people  stopping  and 
lying  down  beside  each  pile.  Sinopah  was 
very  impatient :  he  kept  jerking  his  father's 
hand  and  asking  questions,  but  for  what 
seemed  to  him  a  long  time  the  chief  would 
not  answer. 

At  last  not  one  person  was  to  be  seen  out 
there  on  the  plain  :  nothing  was  in  sight  but 
the  rows  of  rock-piles,  and  far  away  the  black 
mass  of  feeding  buffalo.  Then  White  Wolf 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

lifted  the  boy  up  on  his  shoulder  and  began 
to  explain :  "  Pretty  soon  you  will  see  your 
grandfather  riding  out  toward  that  first 
ridge/'  he  said,  "  so  watch  for  him." 

Sinopah  looked  for  the  old  man;  looked 
so  hard  that  water  came  to  his  eyes  and  he 
had  to  wipe  it  away.  When  he  looked  off 
again,  he  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  small, 
single  buffalo  climbing  the  first  ridge  out 
toward  the  buffalo  herd.  His  father  told 
him  that  the  object  was  his  grandfather  on 
horseback.  The  old  man  was  lying  down  on 
the  animal,  so  as  to  make  it  appear  that  it 
had  a  high,  humped  back,  and  covered  as 
both  he  and  the  horse  were  with  buffalo 
robes,  they  did,  indeed,  together  look  like  a 
small  buffalo. 

From  the  top  of  the  ridge  the  plain  ex 
tended  out  with  an  even  rise  to  the  next 
ridge,  on  which  the  herd  was  feeding.  As 
soon  as  the  old  man  reached  it,  he  began  to 
ride  in  circles,  each  time  nearer  and  nearer 
those  whose  attention  he  sought  to  attract. 

92 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

And  quite  often  he  tickled  the  horse  be 
tween  the  legs  with  a  stick,  making  it  kick 
up  its  heels  in  a  very  funny  manner. 

"If  you  were  there/'  the  chief  told  Sino- 
pah,  "  you  would  hear  your  grandfather  mak 
ing  a  very  queer  moaning  sound — m-m-m- 
ah  !  m-m-m-ah! — just  as  a  buffalo  calf  does 
when  it  is  in  pain,  or  is  frightened." 

"M-m-m-ah!  m-m-m-ah!"  Sinopah  re 
peated.  "I  will  learn  to  do  that  well/'  he 
said,  and  when  I  am  grown  up  I  will  call  the 
buffalo  to  the  pis-kan." 

"  Well,  then,  watch  !  Watch  closely :  you 
are  going  to  see  a  very  strange  thing  pretty 
soon/'  his  father  told  him. 

At  first  the  big  herd  of  buffalo  feeding  on 
the  far  ridge  paid  no  attention  to  the  object 
circling  toward  them,  thinking,  no  doubt, 
that  it  was  one  of  their  own  kind  just  wan 
dering  around.  But  when  it  kicked  up  its 
heels,  first  one  of  the  old  bulls  and  then 
another  raised  its  head  and  began  to  stare. 
Then,  when  it  was  close  enough  for  its  plain- 

93 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

tive  m-m-m-ab  cries  to  be  heard,  the  cows  be 
gan  to  take  notice,  thinking  that  what  they 
saw  was  a  calf  in  distress.  Several  of  them 
walked  toward  it  a  little  way,  sniffing  the  air, 
but  the  wind  was  wrong  for  them  and  their 
noses  could  get  no  scent  of  it. 

"  Now !  N  o w  watch  cl  osely ,  little  son/ '  said 
father,  and  the  boy  stared  harder  than  ever. 

One  of  the  big  cows  suddenly  started  and 
ran  forward  a  few  rods,  and  the  whole  herd 
moved,  too,  and  gathered  in  a  close  bunch 
behind  her.  Thus  they  stood  for  a  few  mo 
ments,  staring  and  tossing  their  heads,  and 
then,  led  by  the  big  old  cow,  down  the  ridge 
they  came  with  a  tremendous  rattle  and 
thunder  of  hoofs,  and  raising  a  thick  cloud 
of  dust  behind  them. 

This  was  what  old  Red  Crane  on  his  little 
horse  had  been  praying  for,  and  now  he  turned 
and  rode  swiftly  toward  the  wide  gap  of  the 
V-shaped  rock-piles.  And  swift  as  he  rode, 
the  buffalo  were  swifter  and  gained  on  him 
steadily. 

94 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

"Oh!  Oh!  They  will  catch  up  with  him 
and  trample  him  to  death,"  Sinopah  cried 
in  terror. 

"  No,  no,  he  is  not  in  danger,"  his  father 
answered;  "watch  closely  now." 

In  a  few  minutes  Red  Crane  rode  within 
the  V,  the  buffalo  right  after  him,  and  soon 
the  whole  herd  was  in  it,  too.  Then,  as  the 
tail  end  of  the  band  passed  rock-pile  after 
rock-pile,  the  people  lying  behind  the  heaps 
sprang  up  and  shouted,  and  wildly  waved 
their  robes.  That  scared  the  rear  animals, 
that  alone  could  see  and  hear  the  people, 
and  they  ran  harder  than  ever,  so  crowding 
those  in  front  to  run  faster  and  faster.  The 
band  was  nearing  the  cliff  now,  and  were 
almost  on  top  of  Red  Crane  and  his  little 
horse.  Then  it  was  that  he  suddenly  turned 
and  rode  straight  east  between  two  of  the 
rock-piles  of  that  side  of  the  great  V.  Turn 
ing  to  follow  him,  —  the  lead  cows  still 
thought  they  were  running  to  the  rescue  of 
a  calf  in  trouble,  —  the  herd  saw  people 

9$ 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

jump  up  from  behind  the  rocks,  and  were 
now  for  the  first  time  as  badly  frightened  as 
were  those  in  the  rear.  Quick  as  a  flash  they 
turned  from  that  danger  and  headed  west, 
only  to  be  confronted  with  people  rising 
from  the  rock-piles  on  that  side  of  the  V. 
Here,  now,  were  people  on  each  side,  and 
people  back  whence  they  had  come.  But 
none  were  to  be  seen  to  the  south,  and  south 
ward  they  turned,  running  faster  than  ever  in 
their  great  terror.  Red  Crane  was  now  safe. 
Sitting  on  his  dripping  horse,  he  watched 
the  animals  go,  and  raised  a  prayer  to  the 
gods  and  his  little  secret  helper,  asking  that 
the  buffalo  should  keep  straight  on. 

In  the  mean  time  White  Wolf  had  run  with 
Sinopah  to  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  and  several 
hundred  yards  east  of  the  place  where  the 
two  lines  of  the  V  came  close  together,  and 
there  the  two  waited  to  see  the  end  of  it  all. 

Here,  now,  was  the  most  anxious  moment 
and  the  greatest  danger;  the  leaders  of  the 
herd  might  turn  before  coming  to  the  cliff; 

96 


THEN  IT  WAS  THAT  HE  SUDDENLY  TURNED 


The  Buffalo  Trap 

trample  the  people  behind  one  or  the  other 
of  the  rows  of  rock-piles,  and  so  circle  back 
to  the  plain  in  safety.  But  no !  They  kept 
straight  on ;  and  Sinopah,  watching  them 
with  staring  eyes  and  open  mouth,  was  never 
so  excited  in  his  life  :  he  felt  as  if  he  was  go 
ing  to  burst  from  the  dreadful  danger  of  it 
all ;  the  terrible  thunder  of  hoofs;  the  wicked 
gleams  of  wild  black  eyes  set  in  shaggy  hair. 
And  now  the  leaders  of  the  herd  saw  the 
edge  of  the  cliff,  and  tried  to  stop  and  turn 
to  one  side.  But  those  behind  them  could 
not  see  it  and  kept  pressing  forward  with 
tremendous  and  irresistible  force.  There 
could  be  no  stopping.  The  leaders  were 
swiftly  pushed  off  from  the  cliff,  and  follow 
ing  them  went  the  living  stream  of  the  herd, 
whirling  and  whirling  through  the  air,  fall 
ing,  falling  from  that  sheer  height,  and 
crashing  down  onto  the  boulders  at  the  foot 
of  the  cliff.  Hundreds  of  the  buffalo  went 
over  the  ledge,  and  only  the  last  end  of  the 
herd,  just  a  few  animals,  turned  at  the  last 

97 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

moment  and  escaped  through  the  people  to 
the  plain. 

Most  of  those  that  went  over  the  cliff  were 
killed  outright  by  the  fall,  and  those  only 
crippled  were  soon  put  out  of  their  misery 
by  the  hunters  down  there.  Then  began  the 
skinning  of  the  animals  and  the  cutting-up 
of  the  meat  and  carrying  it  to  the  lodges  in 
the  camp.  When  night  came  the  work  was 
all  done  and  the  people  rested  and  were 
happy.  Pretty  soon  the  moon  came  up  and 
old  Red  Crane  took  Sinopah  outside.  Over 
at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  wolves  and  coyotes  and 
foxes  were  howling  and  yelping  as  they  fed  on 
the  bones  and  bits  of  meat  that  had  been  left 
there.  "Listen  to  our  little  brothers/*  he  said. 
"  It  is  a  great  feast  that  we  are  giving  them 
this  night." 

In  some  such  way  in  the  long  ago,  our  own 
ancestors  used  to  trap  their  food.  That  was 
when  they  had  no  weapons  but  the  bow  and 
arrow  and  flint  knife,  and  meat  and  wild  ber 
ries  were  all  they  had  to  eat. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SPINNING  TOP 

WINTER  was  now  come,  but  the 
people  were  very  comfortable  in 
their  lodges  in  the  Two  Medi 
cine  Valley.  After  all,  the  winters  are  very 
mild  on  the  plains  close  under  the  Rocky 
Mountains  in  Montana.  Sometimes  a  bliz 
zard  swoops  down  from  the  north,  bringing 
some  snow  and  intense  cold,  but  it  seldom 
lasts  long.  Within  a  few  days  a  Chinook 
wind  comes  out  of  the  west,  a  wind  that 
started  from  the  Japan  Current  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  eight  hundred  miles  away,  and  this  is 
so  warm  that  it  kills  the  blizzard  and  melts 
the  snow.  Sometimes,  even  in  January,  this 
wind  is  so  very  warm  that  it  makes  the  air 
feel  as  if  summer  had  really  come.  This  is  the 
way  it  usually  is  on  the  northern  Montana 
plains  in  winter.  But  about  once  in  twenty 

99 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

years  the  north  wind  keeps  the  west  wind  back 
for  a  couple  of  months  or  more.  Then  the 
snow  falls  deep,  and  the  thermometer  stays 
away  down  below  zero,  and  the  animals  and 
birds  die  by  the  hundred.  At  such  a  time  I 
have  seen  more  than  a  hundred  antelope,  a 
whole  band,  lying  frozen  to  death  on  the 
plain. 

This  was  a  good  winter;  too  good,  th« 
boys  and  girls  thought,  for  they  wanted  the 
river  to  freeze  over  so  they  could  play  on 
the  ice.  So  it  was  that  one  night  when  Sino 
pah  was  going  to  crawl  into  his  warm  buf 
falo-robe  couch,  he  made  a  short  prayer  to 
Ai-sto-yim-sta,  Cold-Maker.  He  was  the 
god  who  lived  in  the  north,  and  who  made 
raids  into  the  southland,  hidden  always  in 
the  swirling  snow  of  the  terrible  blizzards 
he  made. 

"  Hai-yu,  Ai-sto-yim-sta,"  little  Sinopah 
piped  shrilly,  "  have  pity  on  all  of  us  child 
ren.  Come  quickly ;  come  this  night  and 
make  ice  for  us  to  play  on/' 

100 


Spinning  Top 

His  mother  heard  him  and  cried  out  to 
White  Wolf :  "  Now  what  do  you  think  this 
naughty  boy  is  doing  ?  He  prays  Cold-Maker 
to  come  and  make  ice  for  him." 

"  Is  it  so !  "  his  father  exclaimed.  "  Sino- 
pah,  come  here.  I  have  something  to  say. 
Now,  listen !  "  he  went  on,  when  he  had 
the  boy  close  in  his  arms.  "  Cold-Maker  is 
a  bad  god,  and  you  must  never  pray  to  him 
to  come.  He  is  not  like  the  Sun,  the  great 
giver  of  life  ;  he  is  the  giver  of  death.  Many 
and  many  a  one  of  our  people  he  has  done 
to  death.  You  pray  him  to  come  and  make 
ice.  Well,  away  out  there  on  the  plains  are 
many  of  our  hunters.  They  are  coming 
slowly  toward  camp  ;  very  slowly  because 
their  horses  are  carrying  heavy  loads  of  meat 
for  the  women  and  children,  and  hides  to  be 
tanned  into  soft,  warm  robes.  Now,  suppose 
that  Cold-Maker  does  come ;  come  now, 
this  night  ?  You  will  have  the  ice  to  play  on, 
yes.  But  other  children  will  have  no  fathers: 
they  will  be  lying  dead  out  on  the  plain." 

101 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"  Oh,  I  did  n't  think  of  that/'  said  Sinopah. 
"  Cold-Maker  is  a  bad  god.  I  will  never  pray 
again  to  him.  But  I  would  like  to  have  some 


ice/3 


"The  ice  will  come  soon  enough/'  said 
White  Wolf.  "Now,  go  you  to  your  robes 
and  sleep." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  there  would 
be  heavy  white  frost  on  the  trees  and  the 
grass  in  the  early  morning,  and  thin  ice  along 
the  edge  of  the  river  in  the  still  places.  Little 
by  little  this  ice  thickened  and  crept  out 
from  the  shore,  so  that  White  Wolf  had  to 
break  it  when  he  carried  Sinopah  with  him 
for  the  daily  bath.  When  the  two  of  them 
plunged  into  the  cold  water  they  shivered  and 
cried,  "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ah!"  and  shrank  from 
the  feel  of  it;  but  oh,  how  good  they  felt, 
when  back  in  the  warm  lodge.  And  then  one 
morning  when  they  went  to  the  river,  they 
found  it  frozen  clear  across,  the  ice  so  thick 
that  White  Wolf  had  to  get  a  heavy  piece  of 
drift  and  break  a  hole  in  it  for  a  bathing-place. 

102 


Spinning  Top 

"Oh,  hurry!  hurry!"  Sinopah  cried.  "I 
want  to  get  back  to  the  lodge  and  put  on  my 
clothes,  and  come  out  here  to  play/' 

But  his  mother  would  not  let  him  start 
out  until  he  had  eaten  all  of  the  fat  meat  on 
a  roasted  buffalo  rib.  Then,  taking  up  his  top 
and  the  whipper  for  it,  away  he  ran  to  the 
river  where  nearly  all  the  children  of  the 
camp  were  playing  on  the  ice,  nearly  all  of 
them  spinning  tops. 

Sinopah  had  a  fine  top  that  his  grand 
father  made  for  him  from  the  tip  of  a  buf 
falo  bull  horn.  It  was  about  three  inches 
long,  an  inch  or  more  in  diameter,  flat  on  the 
upper  end,  and  dull-pointed.  There  was  no 
string  for  it,  as  the  spinning  was  done  with 
a  whip.  This  was  a  slender  stick  about  two 
feet  long,  to  an  end  of  which  were  tied 
three  or  four  fine  buckskin  strings  about  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  length.  The  top  was  started 
spinning  on  the  ice  with  the  thumb  and  mid 
dle  finger  of  the  left  hand,  and  then  lashed 
frequently  with  the  whip  to  keep  it  spinning. 

103 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

A  favorite  play  was  for  three  or  four  children 
to  start  their  tops  at  the  same  time,  each  one 
trying  to  make  his  top  spin  the  longest. 

As  usual  Lone  Bull  and  the  little  girl 
Otaki,  Sinopah's  best  friends,  were  with  him 
this  morning  and  the  three  spun  their  tops 
together,  sometimes  one  and  sometimes  an 
other  of  them  winning  the  long-time  game. 
Sinopah  won  most  of  the  games,  though, 
and  he  began  to  think  that  he  could  spin 
tops  as  well  as  any  one  of  the  great  crowd 
of  children  there  on  the  ice.  When  he  had 
won  three  games,  one  after  another,  from 
Lone  Bull  and  Otaki,  he  was  sure  that  he 
was  the  best  player  of  all,  and  said  so. 

Crow  Foot,  a  boy  older  by  some  years, 
heard  the  boast  and  cried  out:  "You  say 
that  you  are  the  best  spinner  here  ?  Well,  I 
say  that  I  am  the  best.  Come  on,  and  we 
will  see  whose  words  are  true.  We  will  start 
spinning  our  tops  at  the  same  time,  and  the 
one  of  us  who  spins  his  longest  shall  win  the 
other's  top/' 

104 


Spinning  Top 

"  Don't  you  do  it,  Sinopah,"  said  Lone 
Bull.  "He  is  bigger  than  you;  he  has  spun 
tops  two  or  three  winters  before  we  com 
menced;  he  will  surely  win  your  top/' 

"  Yes,  and  such  a  nice  top  it  is,  and  his  only 
an  old  wooden  one,"  said  Otaki.  "  Don't 
play  with  him." 

"Oh,  I  am  not  afraid;  I  can  win,"  said 
Sinopah. 

And  in  another  moment  the  two  boys 
were  spinning  their  tops  in  the  centre  of 
a  big  crowd  of  children.  No  one  spoke  or 
moved ;  the  only  sound  to  be  heard  was  the 
swish  and  slat  of  the  whip-lashes,  and  the 
dull  buzzing  of  the  tops  on  the  ice. 

After  a  long  time  Crow  Foot  made  a  mis- 
strike  with  his  whip  and  the  top  wobbled. 
"He  loses,"  the  children  cried  ;  but  no,  he 
made  another  quick  snatch  at  it  and  it 
righted  up. 

Then  Sinopah's  top  spun  into  a  small, 
rough  place  in  the  ice  and  began  to  jump. 
"  Oh,  Sinopah  !  be  careful ;  take  courage,'1 

105 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

the  crowd  shouted  at  him,  and  just  then  he 
made  a  hard  stroke  with  the  whip  that 
knocked  the  top  over  on  its  side  and  sent  it 
rolling  into  the  crowd.  Crow  Foot  snatched 
up  his  top,  chased  the  other  one  and  recov 
ered  it,  and  danced  around  holding  both  up 
in  the  air,  shouting  :  "  I  win  the  bull-horn 
top  !  I  win  Sinopah's  fine,  black  horn  top." 
Sinopah  cried.  Lone  Bull  and  Otaki  tried 
to  comfort  him,  but  he  cried  all  the  harder 
and  kept  saying  :  "  Oh,  my  top  !  It  is  gone. 
What  will  my  grandfather  say  ?  He  worked 
so  long  to  make  it  for  me.  Oh,  I  want  my 
grandfather ;  maybe  he  will  get  it  back  for 


me." 


Grandfather  was  right  there ;  he  was  never 
far  away  from  the  boy,  always  watching  to 
see  that  he  came  to  no  harm. 

"  Now,  what  is  the  trouble  ? "  he  asked  ; 
but  Sinopah  was  crying  so  hard  that  he  could 
not  answer,  and  so  Lone  Bull  told  him  how 
Crow  Foot  had  won  the  top. 

"  Well,  well.  That  is  bad,"  said  the  old 
1 06 


Spinning  Top 

man,  and  he  led  Sinopah  away  up  the  riverf 
Lone  Bull  and  Otaki  going  also. 

"  You  must  n't  cry.  No  matter  what  hap 
pens,  you  must  not  cry,"  Red  Crane  began. 
"  Women  and  girls  may  cry,  but  boys  and 


men  never." 


" 


But,  grandfather,  my  top !  Crow  Foot 
has  it ;  he  won  it  from  me.  Will  you  get  it 
back  for  me?"  Sinopah  whimpered. 

"  I  will  not,"  Red  Crane  answered.  "  This 
is  going  to  be  a  lesson  to  you.  Remember 
this — you,  too,  Lone  Bull :  those  who  gamble 
are  always  poor.  Also,  gamblers  are  not  good 
men  :  they  use  up  so  much  time  playing 
games  that  they  seldom  hunt,  and  their  wo 
men  and  children  have  not  enough  meat  to 
eat.  Neither  are  they  of  any  account  in  war. 
If  all  our  men  gambled,  the  enemy  would 
soon  kill  us  all  off." 

"  But,  grandfather,  I  have  no  top  now," 
said  Sinopah,  doing  his  best  not  to  cry  any 
more,  "  and  see  how  clear  and  hard  the  ice 
is.  I  want  to  spin  a  top  on  it." 

107 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"  Well,  if  you  are  very  good,  and  will 
promise  never  to  gamble  again,  I  will  begin 
making  you  another  top  to-morrow,"  said 
the  old  man.  "  Now,  you  will  all  go  with 
me  after  some  red  willow.  I  want  the  bark 
of  it  to  mix  with  my  tobacco.  There  is  a 
fine  patch  of  it  growing  close  to  the  shore 
above  here." 

Never  was  there  clearer  ice  than  that  on 
the  river  this  morning.  It  was  as  clear  as  a 
glass  window  pane.  Everything  in  the  water 
under  it  could  be  seen  plainly,  the  rocks, 
gravel,  and  sand  of  the  bottom,  and  the  trout 
lying  almost  still  in  the  deep  places. 

While  they  stood  looking  down  at  a  very 
large  trout,  suddenly  a  long,  slender,  dark 
brown  animal  with  big,  webbed  hind  feet, 
came  swimming  down  into  the  deep  hole. 
The  trout  saw  it  and  turned  and  swam  like 
a  flash  toward  the  branches  of  a  sunken  tree. 
The  animal  was  a  faster  swimmer  ;  it  went 
so  fast  after  the  trout  that  it  was  just  a  brown 
streak  in  the  water,  and  it  caught  the  fish, 

108 


Spinning  Top 

and,  holding  it  crosswise  in  its  mouth,  started 
to  swim  back  upstream. 

"  Ha!  Am-on-is"  (otter),  "killer  of  fish," 
old  Red  Crane  cried,  and  stamped  on  the 
ice. 

That  frightened  the  otter  ;  it  let  go  of  the 
bleeding  and  dying  trout  and  swam  away 
downstream. 

"  O-kye-hai !  You  children  down  there," 
Red  Crane  shouted,  "  spread  out  and  stamp 
on  the  ice.  Scare  back  an  otter  swimming 
toward  you." 

There  must  have  been  all  of  a  hundred 
children  in  the  top-spinning  crowd.  The  old 
man  had  to  shout  two  or  three  times  to  make 
them  understand,  and  then  they  all  spread 
out  and  stamped  the  ice  with  their  feet,  and 
pounded  it  with  their  tops  and  whips,  making 
altogether  a  terrible  noise. 

Old  Red  Crane,  in  the  mean  time,  had 
gone  to  the  shore  and  picked  up  a  rock  big 
ger  than  his  head,  and  now  he  stood  with  it 
raised  high  above  his  head  watching  for  the 

109 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

otter  to  come  back.  This  it  soon  did,  the 
children  below  having  scared  it,  and  now  it 
swam  close  to  the  shore  where  the  bank  went 
straight  down,  hoping  to  find  an  air-hole,  or 
a  beaver-hole  into  which  it  could  crawl,  and 
then  climb  up  into  the  beaver's  sleeping* 
place  above  the  water,  where  there  would  be 
plenty  of  air. 

There  was  no  hole  of  any  kind,  except  an 
open  place  in  some  rapids  quite  a  long  way 
above,  and  the  otter  had  to  breathe  before  it 
could  get  back  to  that  place.  Its  lungs  were 
full  of  air,  and  it  had  to  let  it  out  and  draw 
it  in  again,  or  die.  So  when  it  was  quite 
close  under  Red  Crane,  it  rose  to  the  under 
surface  of  the  ice  and  blew  out  the  air  against 
it,  a  great  long  wide  silvery  bubble.  But  be 
fore  it  could  breathe  it  in  again,  Red  Crane 
dashed  the  rock  down  right  over  it.  Crash  ! 
went  the  brittle  ice,  the  jar  scattering  the  big 
bubble  into  a  hundred  little  bubbles,  and 
frightening  the  otter  away  at  the  same  time. 
There  it  was  without  air  in  its  lungs,  and  no 

no 


Spinning  Top 

way  to  get  any  except  at  the  hole  at  the 
rapids,  so  far,  far  away.  That  place  the  poor 
animal  tried  to  reach.  It  swam  slower  and 
slower,  Red  Crane  and  the  children  follow 
ing  it.  Very  soon  it  had  to  expand  its  lungs, 
and  as  there  was  no  air,  water  instead  flowed 
in  through  its  nose  and  filled  them.  That 
was  the  end.  The  animal  gave  a  few  fee 
ble  kicks,  then  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  and  lay  still.  It  was  dead.  Dead  from 
want  of  that  little  bubble  of  air  it  had  lost. 
Could  it  have  kept  that,  letting  it  out  against 
the  ice,  and  then  drawing  it  in  again,  it  could 
have  traveled  for  miles,  or  until  it  came  to 
an  open  place  where  it  could  crawl  out  of 
the  water. 

Grandfather  Red  Crane  was  all  excited 
now.  "  Who  would  have  thought  we  would 
get  a  medicine  animal  so  easy  as  that  ?"  he 
said.  "  It  was  just  lucky  that  it  stopped  to 
make  its  bubble  in  front  of  me.  But  it  is  a 
good  sign.  Sinopah,  we  will  save  the  skin  foi 
you.  When  you  grow  up  we  will  make  a 

in 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

bow-and-arrow  case  of  it  for  you,  and  I  know 
that  it  will  bring  you  good  luck  in  war." 

And  with  that  he  sent  the  children  to 
camp  after  an  axe  with  which  he  chopped 
a  hole  in  the  ice.  Then  he  fished  out  the 
otter  with  a  forked  pole.  It  was  a  big  otter ; 
all  of  four  feet  long  from  the  nose  to  the  tip 
of  its  tail.  The  old  man  forgot  all  about  the 
red  willow,  and  dragging  the  animal,  and  the 
children  following,  he  went  straight  back  to 
camp,  where  he  carefully  took  off  its  fine 
furred  hide  and  stretched  it  to  dry  in  the 
right  shape. 


CHAPTER   IX 

SINOPAHS's    FIRST    BOW 

IT  is  time  for  our  son  to  learn  to  use  the 
bow,"  said  White  Wolf  one  evening 
when  all  the  family  was  sitting  in  the 
light  and  warmth  of  the  little  lodge  fire. 

"  Ai!  So  it  is,"  old  Red  Crane  exclaimed. 
**  I  will  begin  work  on  one  for  him  to 
morrow,  and  it  shall  not  be  a  wooden  bow ; 
it  shall  be  made  of  horn." 

"I  wouldn't  take  so  much  trouble  as 
that,"  said  White  Wolf.  "  A  bow  of  wood 
will  be  good  enough  for  him  to  begin  with." 
"  But  what  does  my  time  amount  to  ? " 
Red  Crane  asked.  "  I  am  old,  old.  I  tell 
you  it  makes  me  sick  when  I  see  the  younger 
men  start  out  to  hunt,  or  leave  to  make  war 
against  the  enemy,  and  I  can't  go  with  them. 
All  I  can  do  now  is  to  stay  here  in  the  camp. 
AH  I  can  do  is  to  teach  our  little  Sinopah ; 

"3 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

teach  him  to  shoot  and  hunt ;  teach  him  to 
be  good  and  kind  and  brave.  My  time  is 
all  for  him.  So  it  is  that  he  shall  have  a  fine 
little  bow  of  horn." 

"  Father,  don't  you  worry  about  these 
things/'  said  White  Wolf.  "  I  can  hunt  for 
us  all,  and  I  can  go  to  war.  All  I  ask  of  you 
is  to  be  happy.  It  is  great  work  that  you 
are  doing  for  our  little  Sinopah.  We  are  all 
glad  that  you  do  so  much  for  him." 

The  next  morning  the  old  man  went  up 
in  the  hills  with  Sinopah  to  get  some  buffalo 
horns.  They  soon  found  the  heads  of  some 
freshly  killed  animals,  and  took  the  horns 
from  three  of  them,  all  big,  shiny  black 
horns  of  three-  and  four-year-old  bulls. 
Back  they  went  then  to  the  valley  and 
threw  the  horns  into  a  hot  spring,  where 
they  were  to  remain  a  couple  of  days  and 
get  soft. 

On  the  third  day  old  Red  Crane  took  the 
horns  out  of  the  spring  and  found  them  so 
soft  that  they  could  be  split  with  a  knife  as 

114 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

easily  as  if  they  were  just  soft  wood.  So  he 
took  them  home  to  the  lodge  and  began 
making  a  bow,  Sinopah  watching  every  part 
of  the  work,  and  asking  many  questions  about 
it,  so  that  he  could  some  day  make  such 
bows  for  himself. 

First,  the  old  man  cut  the  horns  into  long 
splints  of  different  size,  the  larger  ones  an 
inch  wide,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick. 
The  larger  pieces  were  for  the  middle  of  the 
bow,  the  smaller  ones  for  the  ends,  and  all 
were  neatly  shaved,  so  as  to  lap  closely  one 
on  the  other,  —  to  splice,  as  such  work  is 
called  ;  all  the  pieces  being  stuck  together 
with  a  very  strong  waterproof  glue  made  by 
boiling  down  the  hoofs  of  the  buffalo.  When 
this  was  done,  the  old  man  scraped  the  bow 
with  sandstone,  and  then  a  knife,  until  from 
end  to  end  it  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  and  of 
the  right  shape,  heavy  and  thick  in  the 
middle,  and  from  there  tapering  each  way 
out  to  the  tips.  Lastly,  to  make  the  bow  all 
the  stronger,  and  springy,  he  glued  strips  of 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

sinew  to  its  whole  outer  length,  and  wrapped 
it  with  sinew  bands  about  four  inches  apart. 
When  finished,  the  bow  was  about  three 
feet  long. 

The  next  thing  was  to  string  the  bow  with 
a  fine  cord  of  twisted  sinew,  and  then  the 
arrows  were  made,  the  shafts  of  straight,  hard, 
heavy  greasewood,  the  points  of  thin  iron 
bought  from  the  traders,  and  the  feathering 
of  quills  of  wild-goose  wings. 

The  old  man  made  eleven  of  these  iron  - 
pointed  arrows,  and  then  went  to  work  on 
another  shaft  with  which  he  took  especial 
pains,  working  a  whole  evening  in  just  scrap 
ing  and  polishing  it,  and  soaking  it  full  of 
grease.  Sinopah,  watching  him,  grew  restless, 
and  asked  why  he  worked  so  long  on  just  one 
arrow  shaft. 

"  Because  this  is  to  be  a  medicine  arrow ; 
a  lucky  arrow/'  Red  Crane  replied. 

He  then  took  from  his  own  quiver  an 
arrow  that  had  a  very  small,  thin,  sharp  point 
of  black  obsidian,  or  natural  glass.  In  the 

116 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

Yellowstone  country  there  is  a  whole  moun* 
tain  of  such  stuff. 

"  Now,  I  am  going  to  take  this  point  off 
and  fasten  it  on  this  shaft,"  said  the  old  man, 
"  and  you  are  never  to  use  it  except  when  in 
danger.  My  father  made  the  point  for  me, 
and  three  different  times  it  has  saved  my  life. 
By  that  you  can  see  it  is  great  medicine." 

"  Oh,  grandfather  !  Tell  me  about  it,"  said 
Sinopah,  snuggling  up  to  him  and  hanging 
onto  his  hand  so  that  he  could  not  work. 

"Well,  you  shall  hear,"  the  old  man  an 
swered,  lifting  the  boy  into  his  lap  and  smooth 
ing  the  hair  back  from  his  forehead.  "Ai! 
But  the  first  time  was  long  ago.  Why,  I  was 
not  much  older  than  you  are  now.  My  father 
had  made  a  horn  bow  and  twelve  arrows  for 
me.  Eleven  of  the  arrows  had  common  white 
flint  points  and  the  twelfth  one  carried  this 
fine  black  one.  Just  as  I  tell  you  now,  my  fa 
ther  told  me  then  :  I  was  not  to  use  it  except 
when  in  great  danger. 

"  One  day  I  went  hunting  with  two  boy 
117 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

friends.  It  was  a  very  hot  day  and  we  walked 
in  the  timber  close  to  the  river.  In  my  left 
hand  I  carried  my  bow  and  two  arrows;  one 
a  common  arrow,  the  other  having  this  medi 
cine  point.  All  the  rest  of  the  arrows  were 
in  a  quiver  slung  at  my  back. 

"  My  two  friends  walked  in  the  middle  of 
the  timber  and  near  the  river,  and  I  kept  at 
the  outer  edge  of  it.  After  a  long  time  I 
came  to  a  very  thick  patch  of  willows,  so 
very  thick  that  I  could  not  see  into  it.  In 
there  I  heard  a  queer  noise  ;  a  snuffling  noise, 
and  little  faint  cries  as  of  something  in  great 
pain,  just  such  a  noise  as  a  dog  makes  when 
it  is  badly  hurt.  I  thought  it  was  a  dog,  one 
of  our  camp  dogs,  that  had  got  hurt  and  had 
come  out  there  to  die.  So  I  pushed  into  the 
thicket,  and  suddenly  came  face  to  face  with 
a  big  wolf.  Now,  wolves,  as  you  know,  never 
harm  any  one.  They  are  afraid  of  man.  But 
this  wolf  was  different.  A  big  fluff  of  white 
foam  covered  its  mouth,  and  by  that  I  knew 
it  was  a  mad  wolf,  and  very  dangerous.  When 

118 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

it  saw  me  it  raised  up  and  made  ready  to 
jump  at  me,  and  at  the  same  time  I  fitted  the 
medicine  arrow  to  my  bow.  The  wolf  opened 
its  mouth  and  made  ready  to  jump  at  me, 
and  I  shot  the  arrow  right  down  its  throat. 
It  did  jump,  but  never  touched  me.  It  fell 
almost  at  my  feet  and  died,  and  I  got  back 
the  arrow. 

"  The  next  time  I  used  the  arrow-point 
was  some  winters  later.  I  had  grown  to  be 
a  man.  I  had  taken  the  point  off  from  the 
little  arrow-shaft,  and  fitted  it  onto  one  such 
as  men  use.  I  had  been  running  buffalo  one 
day,  and  killed  four  with  my  common  ar 
rows.  Then  I  shot  a  big,  fat  cow,  and  at  the 
same  time  my  horse  fell  and  broke  its  leg. 
The  cow  was  only  wounded,  and  very  mad. 
She  charged  me  and  I  jumped  to  one  side 
and  fired  a  common  arrow  at  her ;  it  only 
stuck  in  her  shoulder. 

"  Four  times  she  turned  and  charged  me, 
and  four  times  I  fired  an  arrow,  but  none  of 
them  did  any  good.  I  had  but  the  one  arrow 

119 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

left,  this  one  with  the  medicine  point.  I  made 
a  little  prayer,  fitted  it  to  the  bow,  and  then 
shot  it  when  the  cow  turned  to  charge  me 
again.  Straight  into  her  heart  it  went  and 
down  she  fell,  and  I  was  saved." 

"  Yes,  that  makes  two  times ;  now  tell  about 
the  last  one,"  said  Sinopah,  for  the  old  man 
had  stopped  talking  and  was  looking  with 
dreamy  eyes  at  the  fire. 

"Oh,  yes,  the  last  time,"  Red  Crane  an 
swered,  sitting  up  straight  again.  "  No.  I 
will  not  tell  you  about  that,  because  you 
might  have  bad  dreams  about  it.  All  I  can 
say  is  that  I  had  a  fight  with  a  Crow  chief 
and  killed  him  with  the  medicine  arrow." 

Sinopah  wanted  to  know  all  about  the 
fight,  but  he  had  now  become  very  sleepy, 
and  was  put  on  his  couch  before  he  had  time 
to  ask  more  questions. 

On  the  next  day  old  Red  Crane  made  more 
arrow  shafts,  these  being  made  sharp  at  the 
end,  instead  of  having  iron  points.  They 
were  for  shooting  at  marks,  and  for  a  long 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

time  the  old  man  made  Sinopah  practice 
with  them  every  day.  At  first  he  shot  them 
at  little  sagebrush  bushes,  or  a  piece  of  robe 
thrown  onto  a  bush;  but  after  a  couple  of 
moons  he  was  taught  to  shoot  at  a  ball  of  grass 
thrown  up  in  the  air.  He  became  so  skillful 
that  he  could  pierce  it  nearly  every  time. 

Then,  one  morning  after  the  early  bath  in 
a  hole  cut  in  the  ice,  old  Red  Crane  took  Sino 
pah  out  to  hunt  with  the  real  arrows.  It  was 
a  very  cold  morning;  the  trees  were  covered 
with  thick,  white  frost,  and  all  up  and  down 
the  valley  they  were  popping  with  a  noise 
like  rifle-shots,  while  the  ice  on  the  river 
heaved  and  cracked  with  a  rumbling  like  that 
of  far-off  thunder. 

Not  far  below  the  camp  they  heard  prai 
rie  chickens  (sharp-tailed  grouse)  clucking, 
and  presently  saw  a  number  of  them  sitting 
in  a  small  cottonwood  tree.  The  birds  felt 
so  cold  that  they  sat  all  crouched  on  the  tree 
limbs,  and  paid  no  attention  to  the  man  and 
boy  approaching  them. 

121 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

"Well,  you  are  close  enough  to  them 
now/'  Red  Crane  told  Sinopah  when  they 
had  got  so  near  that  they  could  see  the  shiny 
black  eyes  of  the  chickens. 

Sinopah  dropped  his  robe  then  and  fitted 
an  arrow  to  his  bow,  one  of  the  arrows  with 
iron  point,  and  took  aim  at  a  bird  at  the  top 
of  the  tree. 

"  No,  no !  You  must  not  shoot  that  one," 
Red  Crane  said,  "  for  it  would  drop  flutter 
ing  down  among  the  rest  and  scare  them  all 
away.  Shoot  at  the  very  lowest  bird  in  the 
tree." 

Sinopah  took  quick  aim  and  let  the  arrow 
fly;  and  as  the  bow-cord  twanged  the  chicken 
fell  down  from  the  limb  with  the  arrow  in 
it,  and  after  a  few  flutters  of  its  wings  lay 
still  on  the  blood-stained  snow.  Sinopah  never 
said  a  word,  but  his  snapping  eyes  showed 
how  excited  and  happy  he  was  as  he  shot 
another  arrow  at  the  next  lowest  bird  in  the 
tree. 

This  time  he  missed,  but  a  third  arrow 

122 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

brought  the  chicken  down,  and  three  more 
arrows  got  two  more  birds.  He  was  about 
to  shoot  at  a  fifth  bird  when  Red  Crane 
seized  his  arm  :  "That  is  enough,"  he  said. 
"  You  have  one  for  your  mother,  one  for 
your  father,  one  for  yourself,  and  one  for 
me.  Remember  this  :  the  gods  do  not  love 
wasters  of  life.  They  made  the  animals  and 
birds  for  our  use,  but  we  may  kill  no  more 
than  we  need." 

Sinopah  never  forgot  that.  Afterwards, 
during  all  his  life,  he  was  careful  never  use 
lessly  to  take  the  life  of  beast  or  bird.  Most 
of  the  white  hunters  of  our  country  have  not 
done  that.  They  have  killed  the  buffalo  and 
deer,  the  pigeons  and  ducks  and  other  birds, 
just  for  the  fun  of  seeing  them  die.  Had 
they  shot  only  just  enough  for  food,  there 
would  still  be  plenty  of  game  from  one  end 
to  the  other  of  our  great  land. 

Having  picked  up  the  four  chickens,  and 
the  arrows  that  had  been  shot,  the  old  man 
and  the  little  hunter  started  back  toward 

123 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

home.  Had  you  been  in  Sinopah's  place, 
without  mittens  on  that  cold  morning,  you 
would  have  had  your  fingers  frozen  stiff. 
But  he  never  felt  the  cold,  and  his  hands 
were  almost  as  active  as  on  a  summer  morn 
ing.  That  was  because  he  had  to  bathe  in 
the  frozen  river  every  day. 

On  their  way  through  the  timber  near 
camp  they  saw  a  cotton-tail  rabbit  sitting  in 
the  edge  of  a  rose-brush  thicket.  "I  would 
like  to  have  it,"  said  Red  Crane,  "but  not 
unless  you  can  kill  it  when  it  is  running. 
Now,  fit  an  arrow  to  your  6ow  and  see  what 
you  can  do  when  I  throw  one  of  these  chickens 
that  way." 

They  were  only  forty  or  fifty  feet  from 
the  rabbit.  The  old  man  tossed  a  chicken 
and  the  little  animal  started  off  on  the  jump 
through  the  snow,  passing  right  in  front  of 
Sinopah.  He  aimed  about  a  foot  ahead  of 
it,  and  zip !  the  arrow  struck  it  fairly  just 
behind  the  shoulder.  It  was  a  fine  shot.  Sino 
pah  shouted  as  he  ran  to  pick  it  up,  and  when 

124 


IT  WAS  A  FINE  SHOT 


Sinopah's  First  Bow 

he  returned  and  held  the  rabbit  up  before  Red 
Crane,  the  old  man  shouted  too  and  made 
a  little  prayer  of  thanks  to  the  gods.  "  Never 
was  there  such  a  fine  boy  as  this  one  you 
have  given  us,"  he  said. 

And  at  home  he  said  to  White  Wolf: 
"Now,  listen!  Sinopah  is  going  to  be  a 
great  chief.  I  know  that  he  is." 

"  I  believe  you,"  White  Wolf  replied.  "I 
im  very  proud  of  him." 


CHAPTER   X 

TRACKING    A    MOUNTAIN    LION 

NOW,  while  old  Red  Crane  was  teach 
ing  Sinopah  to  hunt  and  kill  game 
with  bow  and  arrow,  Otaki's  mother 
was  teaching  her  to  do  woman's  work.  The 
little  lodge  had  been  set  up  for  the  children 
in  the  shelter  of  thick  willow  brush  where 
the  wind  could  not  blow,  and  they  now  had 
many  happy  days  in  it.  Lone  Bull,  Otaki's 
brother,  was  with  them,  and  the  two  boys 
hunted,  while  Otaki  gathered  small  pieces  of 
deadwood  for  the  fire,  brought  water  from 
the  river  in  a  small  pot,  and  did  all  the  other 
work  of  the  lodge,  such  as  sweeping  the  hard, 
smooth  earth  floor  with  a  broom  made  of  a 
bunch  of  willow  brush,  and  straightening  out 
the  soft  robe  couches. 

Some  days  the  boys  would  hunt  a  long 
time  and  come  home  to  the  little  lodge  with- 

126 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

out  anything.  Other  times  they  would  bring 
in  a  couple  of  prairie  chickens,  or  one  or  two 
rabbits.  Arriving  at  the  door  of  the  lodge 
they  would  cry  out :  "  Otaki,  we  have  arrived. 
Come  get  the  meat  we  have  killed." 

The  little  girl  would  then  come  out  and 
say :  "  Kyai-yo !  What  a  fine  killing  my  hunt 
ers  have  made.  Go  inside  now,  and  I  will 
soon  have  meat  on  the  fire." 

Then,  while  the  two  boys  sat  on  their 
couches  before  the  fire  and  dried  their  wet 
moccasins,  she  took  her  little  knife  from  the 
sheath  dangling  from  her  belt,  and  skinned 
and  cleaned  the  rabbits  or  birds,  then  brought 
them  inside  and  roasted  them  on  the  hot, 
bright-red  coals.  It  is  true  that  the  meat  did 
not  taste  so  good  as  that  of  the  buffalo  and 
deer  and  elk  and  antelope  that  their  fathers 
brought  to  camp,  but  they  pretended  that  it 
was  even  better  because  they  had  killed  it. 
They  were  very  proud  of  being  able  to  get 
their  own  food  from  the  timber  along  the 
river.  White  children  would  not  have  liked 

127 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

the  chicken  and  rabbit  meat  that  Otaki 
cooked,  because  she  did  not  put  any  salt  on 
it.  The  Indians  never  used  salt  before  the 
white  people  taught  them  to  put  it  in  their 
food,  and  even  to  this  day  many  of  them  do 
not  care  for  it. 

One  day  the  two  boys  went  away  down 
the  river,  farther  than  they  had  yet  gone  on 
their  hunts,  and  found  three  bullberry  bushes 
still  full  of  fruit.  When  first  ripe,  these  ber 
ries  are  so  sour  that  no  one  can  eat  them; 
but  the  freezing  weather  of  winter  turns  cer 
tain  of  the  acids  into  sugar,  and  then  the  ber 
ries  taste  something  like  currants,  only  very 
much  better.  They  have  both  a  tart  and  a 
sweet  taste,  and  not  only  the  Indians  but 
birds  are  very  fond  of  them,  the  prairie  chick 
ens  especially. 

When  the  boys  found  the  three  bushes,  or 
rather  small  trees  full  of  the  fruit,  the  first 
thing  they  did  was  to  strip  off  bunches  of  the 
ripe,  red  berries  and  eat  them.  They  won 
dered  how  it  was  that  the  birds  and  the 

ia8 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

women  of  the  camp  had  not  long  since  found 
and  taken  them  all. 

They  soon  ate  all  they  could  hold,  and 
then  said  Lone  Bull :  "  We  should  have  all 
these  berries  for  our  lodge ;  there  is  a  great 
quantity  of  them;  enough  to  last  us  all 
winter.'* 

"  You  talk  wisely/'  Sinopah  answered. 
"  But  of  course  gathering  berries  is  not  men's 
work.  It  is  best  that  we  bring  Otaki  up  here 
to  gather  them." 

"  But  she  is  n't  strong  enough  for  that," 
Lone  Bull  objected.  "  Of  course  she  should 
come  and  help,  but  I  think  that  we  ought  to 
get  our  mothers  to  do  the  work." 

"Well,  then,  you  go  after  them  and  I  will 
stay  here  and  keep  any  one  who  may  come 
along  from  taking  the  berries,"  said  Sinopah. 
"  No  one  shall  have  them :  they  are  our  find." 

At  that  Lone  Bull  started  off  on  the  run 
for  camp.  Sinopah  ate  a  few  more  berries 
and  then  began  to  get  cold  from  standing 
still  so  long.  He  started  to  walk  aroundf 

129 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

faster  and  faster,  and  farther  and  farther  from 
the  trees,  and  on  a  larger  circle  than  ever  came 
to  some  strange-looking  tracks  in  the  snow. 
They  were  big,  round  tracks,  but  not  far 
apart ;  not  near  so  far  as  he  could  step.  Most 
of  them  showed  the  heel  of  the  feet,  so  it  was 
easy  to  see  which  way  the  animal  had  been 
going.  He  looked  at  the  tracks  a  long  time. 
"Now,  if  Grandfather  Red  Crane  were  only 
here,  he  could  tell  me  what  kind  of  an  ani 
mal  made  these  tracks/'  he  said  to  himself. 
Sinopah  made  another  circle  and  once 
more  came  to  the  strange-looking  tracks. 
"  I  do  wish  I  knew  what  animal  made  them/' 
he  said.  "Well,  I  will  just  follow  them  a 
little  way  and  perhaps  I  can  learn  what  it 


was." 


The  trail  of  the  animal  was  away  from 
the  river  and  toward  a  sandstone  cliff.  Sin 
opah  followed  it  through  the  timber.  At  one 
place  the  animal  had  stood  on  its  hind  feet 
and  clawed  the  trunk  of  a  cottonwood  tree, 
scattering  many  small  pieces  of  the  bark 

130 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

around  on  the  snow.  A  little  farther  on,  it 
had  stood  looking  and  listening  for  some 
thing,  for  here  the  snow  was  all  packed 
smooth  by  its  big  feet.  Still  farther  on,  it  had 
sat  down  in  the  snow,  and  had  left  the  im 
print  of  a  long  tail.  By  that  Sinopah  knew 
that  this  was  not  the  trail  of  a  bear,  for  bears' 
tails  are  no  longer  than  a  boy's  hand. 

"  It  is  n't  a  wolf  either/'  he  thought,  "for 
wolves  have  very  bushy  tails.  The  mark  of 
this  one  in  the  snow  looks  as  if  it  has  very 
short  hair.  Why,  it  may  be  that  I  am  follow 
ing  an  otter. " 

Thinking  that,  he  hurried  forward  on  the 
trail  and  soon  came  near  the  sandstone  cliff. 
Here  there  was  not  so  much  timber.  The 
ground  sloped  sharply  up  to  the  foot  of  the 
cliff,  and  on  it  were  scattered  a  number  of 
large  and  small  rocks.  He  could  see  the  trail 
winding  around  among  the  rocks,  and  said  to 
himself  again,  "It  must  be  an  otter's  trail." 

He  did  not  stop  to  think  that  the  tracks 
were  ten  times  too  large  to  have  been  made 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

by  an  otter.  Nor  did  he  know  that  an  otter, 
when  traveling  through  snow,  does  not  walk : 
it  lays  its  front  feet  back  against  its  breast 
and  pushes  itself  along  with  its  hind  feet, 
making  a  smooth  trough  in  the  snow  with 
two  dots  in  it  at  intervals,  like  this :  — 


Sinopah  now  began  climbing  the  slope, 
and  soon  came  to  the  very  foot  of  the  cliff. 
Right  in  front  of  him  the  trail  ended  at  the 
mouth  of  a  narrow  low  hole  in  the  rock. 
He  walked  right  up  to  it  and  tried  to  see  in, 
to  see  the  animal,  but  a  few  feet  back  there 
was  nothing  but  the  darkness  of  night.  Then 
on  the  floor  of  the  cave  he  saw  some  bones; 
big  leg-bones  and  rib  and  backbones  that 
looked  like  those  of  buffalo  and  deer,  and  he 
suddenly  became  scared.  It  was  enough  to 
scare  any  boy,  that  black  cave,  the  freshly 
gnawed  bones  with  shreds  of  red  meat  still 
hanging  to  them.  He  suddenly  gave  a  little 
squeal  of  fright  and  ran  back  down  the  slope 

132 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

and  toward  the  bullberry  patch  as  fast  as  he 
could  go. 

No  one  was  there  to  meet  him  and  he  ran 
on  and  on  toward  camp,  soon  meeting  his 
mother  and  old  Red  Crane  and  Lone  Bull 
and  Otaki  and  their  mother.  As  quickly  as  he 
could,  he  told  the  old  man  about  the  trail  of 
the  animal  and  the  cave  and  gnawed  bones. 

"  Ah  ha  !  And  you  saw  gnawed  bones  in 
the  cave  !  "  Red  Crane  exclaimed.  "  And  the 
tracks  leading  to  the  place  were  big  and 
round  ?  Well,  my  young  hunter,  it  was  not 
an  otter  you  were  following,  it  was  a  lynx ; 
perhaps  even  a  mountain  lion/' 

"  Kyai-yo  !  "  the  women  cried  out.  "  To 
think  that  he  followed  a  sometimes  killer  of 
children  !  " 

And  his  mother  snatched  him  up  in  her 
arms  and  said  that  he  should  not  go  any 
where  alone  again  for  a  long  time. 

"  Huh  !  the  boys  must  learn/'  said  Red 
Crane ;  "  and  anyhow  no  harm  has  been 
done.  Now,  son,  you  go  tell  your  father  to 

133 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

come  with  his  guns  and  the  dogs,  and  be 
sure  to  tell  no  one  else  ;  we  want  all  the  ber 
ries  and  the  animal  in  the  cave  for  ourselves." 

White  Wolf  was  at  home  in  the  lodge. 
When  Sinopah  told  him  what  was  wanted 
he  snatched  up  his  rifle,  called  the  big  dogs, 
and  set  out  so  fast  on  the  trail  that  the  boy 
had  to  run  to  keep  up  with  him.  They  soon 
overtook  the  others,  and  in  a  few  minutes  all 
were  looking  at  the  trail  in  the  snow,  while 
the  dogs  sniffed  at  it  and  growled,  their  hair 
bristling  straight  up  on  their  backs. 

"  It  is  the  trail  of  a  mountain  lion,"  said 
White  Wolf. 

"  It  is/'  Red  Crane  echoed,  "  and  a  very 
large  one,  too." 

White  Wolf  started  to  follow  the  trail  and 
made  the  dogs  keep  behind  him.  After  them 
came  old  Red  Crane,  and  then  the  women 
and  children.  They  all  soon  arrived  at  the 
foot  of  the  slope  leading  up  to  the  cave,  and 
then  White  Wolf  told  them  to  stand  where 
they  were  while  he  went  on  with  the  dogs. 

'34 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

When  quite  near  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  he 
told  the  dogs  to  go  on,  and  they  rushed  ahead 
on  the  fresh  trail  all  in  a  bunch  and  barking 
eagerly.  But  the  moment  they  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  cave,  and  looking  in  smelled 
the  animal  there,  all  at  once  they  dropped 
their  tails  between  their  legs  and  backed 
away  with  hoarse  growls.  They  were  not 
hunting-dogs  like  our  hounds.  All  they  were 
good  for  was  to  guard  camp,  and,  before  the 
time  of  the  horse,  to  carry  burdens.  White 
Wolf  scolded  them,  but  could  not  make  them 
go  into  the  cave.  They  just  whined  and 
shivered,  and  looked  at  him  with  pleading 
eyes. 

Seeing  that  they  would  not  go  in,  White 
Wolf  at  last  cocked  his  rifle  and  walked 
slowly  to  the  entrance  to  the  cave,  then 
stooped  down  and  looked  in.  At  first  he 
could  see  nothing;  but  he  kept  looking  and 
looking,  and  after  a  time  saw  two  greenish, 
shining  spots  away  back  in  the  darkness,  that 
he  knew  was  the  light  of  the  animal's  eyes. 

135 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Then  he  raised  his  rifle  and  fired  it  after  a 
long  and  careful  aim. 

Boom!  went  the  gun,  and  the  powder- 
smoke  for  a  moment  hid  the  cave  from  the 
view  of  those  watching  at  the  foot  of  the 
slope.  When  White  Wolf  fired  his  rifle  he 
at  once  sprang  off  to  the  left  of  the  cave,  and 
none  too  soon.  Out  of  it  and  through  the 
smoke  came  a  yowling,  tawny  mountain  lion 
that  rolled  and  twisted  around  on  the  snow 
while  blood  streamed  from  a  bullet-hole  in 
its  neck.  The  dogs  now  turned  brave  and 
closed  in  on  it,  only  to  be  bitten  and  clawed 
by  the  furious  big  cat,  and  knocked  off  in 
all  directions  by  its  big  front  paws.  Several 
of  them  never  stopped  running  until  they 
reached  camp. 

Sinopah  and  the  other  children,  as  well  as 
the  women  and  the  old  man,  stood  watch 
ing  all  this  from  the  foot  of  the  slope,  all  of 
them  so  excited  that  they  never  spoke  a 
word.  They  saw  White  Wolf  hurriedly  re 
loading  his  rifle,  and  were  fearing  that,  after 

136 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

all,  the  wounded  animal  would  get  up  and 
run  before  he  could  shoot  it  again.  But  no ; 
with  one  last  weak  kick  it  suddenly  lay  still 
in  the  snow,  and  then  they  all  ran  up  the 
slope  to  look  at  it.  Sinopah  took  hold  of  the 
forelegs  and  tried  to  lift  it,  but  he  could  n't; 
the  animal  was  far  bigger  and  heavier  than 
he, 

"Ha  !  It  is  a  she  deer-killer/'  said  White 
Wolf;  "and  by  the  looks  of  her  there  must 
be  some  young  ones  back  there  in  the  cave. 
Here,  father,  hold  my  gun  while  I  go  in 
there." 

He  was  not  gone  long,  and  returned  with 
a  wee  little  mountain  lion  in  his  arms.  It 
was  no  larger  than  a  house  cat,  and  its  light- 
colored,  fuzzy  fur  had  faint  dark  spots.  It 
was  so  young  that  it  did  not  know  enough 
to  be  afraid  of  man,  and  when  White  Wolf 
stroked  it  and  rubbed  its  head,  it  purred  just 
as  our  house  cats  do,  only  much  louder  than 
they. 

"Oh  !  Oh  !  Give  it  to  me,  father,"  Sino- 
137 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

pah  cried,  and  soon  had  it  wrapped  in  a 
corner  of  his  robe,  where  it  kept  right  on 
purring. 

While  White  Wolf  and  old  Red  Crane  were 
skinning  the  big  cat,  the  women  and  child 
ren  went  back  to  the  berry  patch,  where  they 
soon  gathered  nearly  all  of  the  fruit  on  the 
trees,  and  then  they  went  home  to  their 
lodges,  where  they  spread  the  berries  on  clean 
rawhides  to  dry.  A  part  of  the  fruit  was  given 
to  Otaki  to  dry  in  the  little  play  lodge. 

That  evening,  as  Sinopah  sat  beside  his 
grandfather  with  the  mountain  lion  kitten  in 
his  arms,  he  asked  why  service-berry  bushes 
had  so  many  sharp  thorns. 

"  Old  Man  made  them  grow  there,"  his 
grandfather  replied.  "Listen.  It  was  this 
way:  Old  Man  made  the  world,  and  all  the 
animals  and  trees,  and  everything  on  it.  But 
if  he  was  a  world-maker,  he  often  was  very 
foolish  and  forgetful. 

"  One  day  Old  Man  was  walking  on  the 
edge  of  a  cutbank  beside  the  river,  and  hap- 


Tracking  a  Mountain  Lion 

pening  to  look  down  he  saw  clusters  ot 
beautiful  red  berries  in  the  water.  He  was 
very  hungry,  so  off  came  his  clothes  and  off 
he  dived  from  the  bank  to  get  some  of  the 
fruit.  But  although  he  swam  and  dived  a  long 
time  he  could  see  no  more  of  the  berries,  so 
he  climbed  up  the  bank  and  lay  down.  Look 
ing  at  the  water  again,  there  were  the  ber 
ries  in  it,  just  where  he  had  seen  them  before, 
and  off  he  dived  again  after  them,  and  could 
not  find  them  when  he  got  into  the  water. 

"And  so  he  kept  climbing  out  on  the 
bank,  and  diving  again  after  the  berries, 
until  he  became  so  weak  that  the  last  time 
he  nearly  drowned.  It  was  all  he  could  do 
to  get  back  on  the  bank,  and  there,  happen 
ing  to  look  up,  he  saw  that  the  little  tree  over 
his  head  was  full  of  berries.  At  that  he  tossed 
a  stick  at  the  branches,  and  saw  that  when 
they  moved,  the  branches  and  the  berries  in 
the  water  also  moved.  Then  all  at  once  he 
saw  that  he  had  nearly  died  diving  after  the 
shadow  of  the  berries,  and  that  made  him 

139 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

very  angry.  As  soon  as  he  could  he  got  up 
and  beat  the  tree  with  a  club,  and  made 
thorns  grow  thickly  on  its  branches :  *  There ! 
after  this  all  your  kind  shall  have  thorns/  he 
said, '  and  those  who  want  your  fruit  in  plenty 
must  beat  it  off  with  clubs/ 

"  So  it  is  to-day,  when  our  women  gather 
quantities  of  the  berries  for  winter  use,  they 
have  to  club  it  from  the  branches  in  order  to 
save  their  hands.1' 


CHAPTER  XI 

8INOPAH    JOINS    THE    MOSQUITO    SOCIETY 

ON  a  summer  day  several  years  after 
the  people  wintered  on  the  Two 
Medicine,  old  Red  Crane  and  White 
Wolf  sat  on  the  shady  side  of  their  lodge 
smoking  a  big  pipe  turn-about,  and  idly 
watching  a  crowd  of  children  playing  tag. 
Swiftest  of  them  all  was  Sinopah,  although 
some  of  the  other  boys  were  older  and  taller 
than  he.  White  Wolf  laid  down  the  smoked- 
out  pipe  and  smiled  happily  as  he  softly 
rubbed  his  small,  firm  hands  together.  In 
dians,  you  know,  especially  those  of  the 
plains,  were  noted  for  their  small  and  beau 
tifully  shaped  hands  and  feet. 

"Well,  my  son,"  said  Red  Crane,  "why 
your  smiles  —  what  is  it  that  makes  your 
heart  glad  ? " 

"  That  is  it/'  White  Wolf  replied,  point- 
Hi 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

ing  at  Sinopah,  who  was  far  in  the  lead  of 
the  boys  and  girls  who  chased  him.  "  I  tell 
you  this,  father/'  he  added,  "  there  is  in  this 
child  of  ours  the  making  of  a  great  chief. 
Some  day,  if  we  live,  we  are  going  to  be 
very  proud  of  him." 

"  Ai !  Ai !  That  is  so.  You  never  spoke 
truer  words,"  old  Red  Crane  agreed.  "  How 
good  he  is,  and  how  fearless !  And  how  popu 
lar  also  !  Children  from  all  parts  of  the  camp 
are  ever  coming  to  ask  him  to  play  with 
them." 

"  That  is  the  great  point  in  the  making 
of  a  chief,"  said  White  Wolf.  "  No  matter 
how  brave  a  man  is,  no  matter  how  success 
ful  in  war,  if  his  people  do  not  love  him,  he 
can  never  become  a  leader." 

"  Huh  !  As  if  I  did  n't  know  that!  "  Red 
Crane  exclaimed.  "  Why,  son,  that  is  what 
I  was  always  teaching  you  in  your  young 
days ;  because  of  your  goodness,  of  your 
kindness  to  the  poor,  to  the  widows  and 
orphans,  you  are  chief  to-day." 

142 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

White  Wolf  made  a  gesture  of  assent 
"  Well,"  he  said,  "  it  is  time  that  we  take 
Sinopah  in  hand  for  his  training.  As  a  be 
ginning,  let  us  have  him  join  the  Su-is-ksis- 
iks  at  their  next  meeting/1 

Here,  now,  I  have  something  to  explain 
that  is  very  interesting,  and  that  is  that  nearly 
all  Indian  tribes  of  the  country  had  a  num 
ber  of  societies,  some  of  them  so  secret  that 
only  a  very  few  of  the  most  prominent  men 
ever  learned  their  mysteries.  The  tribe  that 
had,  and  still  has,  the  most  fraternities,  or 
secret  societies,  is  the  Hopi,  or  so-called 
Moqui  tribe  of  northern  Arizona.  There  are 
several  hundred  secret  orders  in  this  tribe, 
the  greatest  of  them  being  the  Snake  and  the 
Flute  societies.  It  is  the  Snake  order  that 
gives  every  two  years  the  great  snake  dance, 
in  which,  after  many  secret  rites  and  prayers 
in  their  kiva,  or  sacred  house,  the  members 
perform  a  public  dance,  during  which  they 
carry  live  and  deadly  rattlesnakes  dangling 
from  their  mouths. 

H3 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

All  these  societies  in  all  the  tribes  are  for 
a  purpose.  The  Hopi,  or  "  People  of  Peace," 
as  they  call  themselves,  live  in  a  desert  coun 
try,  and  depend  upon  their  little  plantings 
of  corn,  beans,  and  squash  for  their  food. 
They  are  not,  and  never  were,  hunters  and 
warriors.  Now,  the  most  important  thing  in 
all  the  world  for  the  Hopi  is  rain ;  rain  to 
make  their  gardens  yield  a  plenty  of  food. 
So  it  is  that  the  object  of  all  their  secret  so 
cieties  is  to  bring  the  rain.  All  the  secret 
rites  in  the  kivas,  all  the  dances,  have  that 
end  in  view. 

See,  now,  how  different  were  the  Black-* 
feet.  They  were  hunters,  and  wanderers  over 
a  great  country  extending  south  from  the 
Saskatchewan  to  the  Yellowstone  River,  a 
distance  of  seven  hundred  miles,  and  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains  eastward  for  several 
hundred  miles.  That  was  their  country,  their 
hunting-ground,  and  on  it  swarmed  thousands 
and  thousands  of  buffalo,  elk,  deer,  antelope, 
and  many  other  kinds  of  game.  Along  the 

144 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

borders  of  this  great  stretch  of  country  were 
many  tribes  always  trying  to  enter  it  and  kill 
the  game,  and  to  save  themselves  the  Black- 
feet  were  obliged  to  make  war  on  them  and 
keep  them  out  of  the  country.  So  it  was  that 
the  fraternities  or  societies  of  the  Blackfeet 
were  societies  of  warriors  and  for  the  making 
of  warriors.  The  least  of  these  was  the  so 
ciety  of  the  Su-is-ksis-iks,  or  Mosquitoes, 
which  White  Wolf  mentioned. 

The  Mosquito  Society  was  composed  en 
tirely  of  young  boys,  but  at  the  head  of  it  were 
two  or  three  old  men  who  were  their  teachers, 
as  they  may  be  called.  It  was  the  duty  of 
these  old  men  to  give  talks  to  the  boys  on 
the  right  way  to  live,  to  instruct  them  in  the 
ways  of  war,  to  pray  for  their  long  life  and 
success,  to  teach  them  certain  dances,  and 
above  all  to  make  them  honor  and  obey  the 
teachings  of  the  gods,  especially  the  Sun. 

Evening  came.  Tired  and  hungry,  Sino 
pah  entered  the  lodge  and  sat  by  his  father's 
side.  His  mother  set  before  him  a  long,  heavy 

145 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

rib  of  boiled  buffalo  meat,  a  dish  of  service 
berries,  a  bowl  of  soup,  and  he  ate  a  big 
meal.  Pausing  once  between  mouthfuls,  he 
said  :  "  We  played  tag  and  none  caught  me. 
We  went  into  the  river  and  I  was  the  leader 
in  the  race  when  we  swam  to  the  far  shore 
and  back." 

White  Wolf  and  Red  Crane  looked  at 
each  other  and  smiled,  and  the  old  grand 
father  said  to  himself :  "Ai!  Ai!  The  time 
has  come." 

The  meal  was  soon  over,  and  then  White 
Wolf  said  to  the  boy :  "  My  son,  your  days 
of  tag-playing  are  about  over.  Your  grand 
father  and  I  have  made  up  our  minds  that 
you  are  big  enough  now  to  become  a  Su-is- 
ksis-ik.  He  will  take  you  to  the  next  meet 
ing  of  the  society." 

"  Oh,  that  will  be  good,"  Sinopah  cried. 
"I  am  to  become  a  member  of  a  warrior 
band.  How  long  will  it  be  before  I  can  join 
a  higher  one  ?  I  would  like  to  be  an  Ai-in- 
i-ki-quan." 

146 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

"  Oh,  that  time  is  yet  some  winters  ahead," 
his  father  answered.  "  You  have  to  go  to 
war  before  joining  that  order,  you  know." 

The  Ai-in-i-ki-kwaks,  or  Seizers,  were 
the  police  of  the  great  camp.  It  was  their 
duty  to  guard  it  in  time  of  danger  and  to 
carry  out  the  orders  of  the  chiefs.  For  in 
stance,  at  times  when  there  were  great  herds 
of  buffalo  near  camp,  the  chiefs  would  order 
that  no  one  should  go  out  by  himself  to  hunt 
and  so  scatter  the  animals  and  make  it  hard 
for  all  the  hunters  to  get  a  plenty  of  meat 
and  hides.  Certain  days  were  set  when  all 
the  men  would  go  together  and  make  a  big 
hunt.  If  any  one  broke  that  rule,  the  chiefs 
would  order  the  Seizers  to  punish  him,  and 
punished  he  was.  Sometimes  the  man  was 
whipped  and  his  weapons  smashed ;  or,  worse, 
he  might  not  only  be  whipped,  but  his  lodge 
and  property  would  be  torn  to  pieces  and 
some  of  his  horses  killed. 

Besides  the  Mosquitoes  and  Seizers,  there 
were  a  number  of  other  orders,  the  Buffalo 

147 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Bulls,  They  Who  Carry  the  Raven,  the  Dogs, 
all  parts  of  the  great  society  of  the  tribe,  which 
was  called  I-kun-uh-ka-tse,  All  Friends. 

On  the  morning  following  the  talk  of 
White  Wolf  and  Red  Crane,  preparations 
were  begun  for  Sinopah's  entrance  into  the 
Mosquito  Society.  First  of  all,  Red  Crane 
changed  the  manner  of  dressing  the  boy's 
hair.  It  had  been  daily  combed  and  plaited 
into  four  long  braids,  two  of  them  falling 
just  behind,  and  two  just  in  front  of  the  ears. 
To  these  was  now  added  a  fifth  braid,  a 
slender  one  drooping  beside  the  one  just  in 
front  of  the  right  ear,  and  the  end  of  it  was 
wrapped  with  a  narrow  strip  of  otter  fur, 
believed  to  be  the  favorite  fur  of  the  Sun. 
This  fifth  braid  was  the  scalp-lock.  Were 
Sinopah  to  be  killed  in  battle  the  enemy 
would  take  it  as  a  trophy  of  the  fight. 

Right  after  the  morning  meal  the  boy's 
mother  had  begun  to  make  a  pair  of  mocca 
sins  for  him,  and  she  kept  at  the  work  for 
some  days.  The  tops  or  uppers  of  them  were 

148 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

solidly  embroidered  with  brightly  colored 
porcupine  quills,  each  small  quill  tightly 
fastened  in  place  with  many  stitches  of  very 
fine  sinew  thread. 

In  the  mean  time,  old  Red  Crane  fumbled 
around  in  his  several  pouches  and  finally 
found  four  beautifully  tanned,  snow-white 
antelope  skins.  "  These  your  grandmother 
tanned  the  summer  before  she  died,"  he  told 
Sinopah.  "  I  have  been  saving  them  for  you. 
They  are  for  your  first  war-suit.  Watch,  now, 
how  I  cut  them,  for  after  this  you  will  have 
to  make  your  own  clothes." 

The  old  man  then  spread  a  skin  out  flat 
on  his  couch  and  cut  it  into  an  oblong  square 
after  measuring  one  of  the  boy's  legs.  A  few 
stitches  then  made  of  the  material  a  wide- 
flapped  legging.  Next,  the  flaps  were  fringed 
by  slitting  them  every  quarter  of  an  inch 
along  their  length,  and  then  ornamented  with 
tufts  of  red-dyed  horsehair  and  parts  of  scalps 
that  the  old  man  had  himself  taken  in  battle. 
The  other  legging  was  made  in  the  same  way. 

149 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

The  other  two  skins  were  fashioned  into 
a  loose,  big-necked,  fringe-seamed  shirt 
that  reached  nearly  to  the  knees.  Snow-white 
weasel  skins  with  black  tail  tips  were  hung 
all  around  the  neck  and  down  the  length 
of  the  sleeves,  along  with  more  red  horse 
hair  and  scalp-locks  ;  and  lastly,  Red  Crane 
painted  several  blue  and  yellow  things,  that 
looked  like  small  lizards,  on  the  back  and 
front  of  the  garment.  Sinopah  asked  what 
animal  they  represented. 

"That  I  cannot  tell  you/'  the  old  man  an 
swered.  "  It  is  my  medicine ;  my  secret 
helper  that  came  to  me  in  my  fasting  dream. 
Yes,  in  that  fast,  when  my  spirit  wandered 
far,  I  found  this  little  water  animal,  and  it 
promised  always  to  help  me  when  I  prayed 
to  it.  It  has  helped  me.  It  has  saved  my  life 
in  many  a  dangerous  place,  so  I  put  the  mark 
of  it  on  here  and  will  pray  to  it,  to  help  you 
until  you  get  a  medicine,  a  secret  helper,  for 
yourself/' 

"And  when  shall  I  get  it  ?"  Sinopah  asked. 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

"Let  me  see;  let  me  see,"  Red  Crane 
mused.  "  You  are  now  of  age  twelve  win 
ters.  Three  winters  after  this  will  be  your 
time  to  fast.  You  will  go  alone  to  some 
sheltered  place  away  from  camp.  You  will 
lie  there  without  food.  You  will  pray  con 
tinually  to  the  Sun ;  to  the  Moon  ;  the  Stars  ; 
to  all  the  world  animals.  Maybe  you  will 
lie  there  four  —  five  —  or  even  seven  days, 
eating  nothing,  drinking  nothing  except  the 
water  that  your  mother  will  take  you  every 
day.  And  you  will  sleep  ;  you  will  dream. 
In  your  dream,  when  your  shadow,  your  spirit 
goes  forth  on  adventure,  then  you  will  find 
your  secret  helper.  I  shall  pray  that  it  be, 
that  which  you  find,  very  strong  medicine." 

"  It  will  be  strong  medicine  !  "  Sinopah 
declared.  "Grandfather,  I  have  the  feelin^ 
in  here,  right  here  in  my  heart,  that  in  that 
fasting  time  I  shall  find  a  very  powerful 
secret  helper." 

The  meeting  of  the  Mosquito  Society  was 
still  some  days  off,  but  there  was  no  more 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

than  time  for  Sinopah  to  get  ready  for  it. 
The  skin  of  the  otter  that  Red  Crane  had 
captured  under  the  river  ice  was  fashioned 
into  a  combined  bow-case  and  arrow-quiver, 
and  ornamented  with  bands  of  fine  porcu 
pine  embroidery.  A  new  bow  and  new  ar 
rows  were  made  by  Red  Crane  and  White 
Wolf  to  put  into  it.  The  bow  was  longer 
and  more  powerful  than  any  that  the  boy 
had  yet  handled,  but  he  was  a  big-muscled 
boy  and  could  easily  bend  it.  The  arrows 
were  real  war-arrows  ;  of  thin,  straight  shafts, 
firm  feathering,  and  small,  sharp,  barbed 
points  that  would  pierce  far  into  any  living 
thing  and  could  not  be  pulled  out ;  also,  a 
new  beaded  belt  was  made,  this  to  hold  the 
knife-sheath  and  support  the  breech-clout 
that  covered  the  loins. 

Then  came  at  last  one  of  the  great  days 
in  the  life  of  Sinopah.  Dressed  all  in  his  new 
war-clothes,  with  otter-skin  bow-case  slung 
on  his  back,  he  went  with  his  grandfather 
to  the  meeting  of  the  Mosquitoes.  It  was 

152 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

held  in  a  very  large  lodge  of  one  of  the 
chiefs.  Many  boys  were  there,  sitting  close 
together  on  the  couches,  but  none  of  them 
had  as  fine  clothes  or  were  themselves  as 
handsome  as  was  he.  But  they  were  all  his 
friends.  When  he  entered  they  cried  out : 
"  Oh,  here  is  Sinopah.  Welcome,  brother, 
welcome." 

Red  Crane  went  to  the  back  of  the  lodge 
and  sat  with  two  old  men.  They  talked  to 
gether  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  one  of 
them,  first  calling  out  for  silence,  made  a 
long  prayer.  He  begged  the  Sun,  and  all  the 
gods  of  the  sky,  the  earth,  and  the  waters, 
to  give  them  all  long  life  and  happiness,  and 
always  a  plenty  of  game  for  food.  At  the 
end  of  the  prayer  all  the  boys  cried  out, 
"  Yes,  all  you  great  gods,  have  pity  on  us ; 
have  pity  on  us/' 

Next  the  old  men  took  up  their  drums 
and  beat  them  in  time  to  a  war-song  they 
sung.  The  boys  all  arose  then  and  danced 
around  and  around  the  fireplace,  old  Red 

153 


Sinopah,  the  Indian  Boy 

Crane  often  stopping  them  to  show  one  of  the 
dancers  his  mistakes.  Then  after  the  dance 
they  rested,  and  one  of  the  old  men  gave 
them  a  talk  on  kindness  of  heart.  During 
another  rest,  old  Red  Crane  spoke  about 
bravery,  saying,  among  other  things,  that  for 
the  good  of  the  tribe  one  must  be  ever  ready 
to  give  his  life. 

And  so,  in  dancing,  in  listening  to  talks 
by  the  old  men,  the  day  passed,  and  toward 
sundown,  very  tired  and  happy,  Sinopah 
went  home  to  rest.  All  the  evening  he  was 
very  quiet,  and  was  first  of  all  the  family  to 
go  to  bed.  Early  the  next  morning  a  little 
girl  stuck  her  head  in  through  the  doorway 
of  the  lodge  and  called  out:  "Oh,  Sinopah, 
get  up  and  come  with  us.  We  go  to  the 
river  to  play." 

The  boy  raised  himself  up  and  looked  at 
her.  "  No,  little  sister,"  he  answered;  "  I  shall 
go  no  more  to  the  river  to  play  with  you.  I 
am  now  a  Mosquito.  I  have  now  to  learn 
how  to  be  a  man." 

'54 


Sinopah  joins  the  Mosquito  Society 

So  it  was.  In  one  short  day,  young  as  he 
was,  Sinopah  passed  out  of  his  childhood  days 
into  those  of  his  youth,  the  beginning  of  the 
life  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  Indian  chiefs. 
On  that  day  he  for  the  first  time  went  with 
his  father  to  hunt,  and  returned  in  the  evening 
with  meat  of  his  own  killing  tied  to  the 
saddle.  With  his  new  bow  and  on  a  swift 
horse,  he  had  joined  in  a  buffalo  run  and 
killed  a  young  bull. 


THE    END 


14  DAY  USE 

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INTERLISRARY  LOA 

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